In a submission for the 2026 National Trade Estimate Report, Cloudflare warns the U.S. government that site blocking efforts cause widespread disruption to legitimate services. The complaint points to Italy's automated Piracy Shield system, which reportedly blocked "tens of thousands" of legitimate sites. Meanwhile, overbroad IP address blocks in Spain and new automated blocking proposals in France are serious concerns that harm U.S. business interests, Cloudflare reports.
Every year, the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) publishes the National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers.
The report is compiled based on input from key industry players. This includes submissions from copyright industry groups that frequently highlight piracy challenges that in their view act as barriers to trade.
In previous years, for example, the MPA and others have called for more site-blocking efforts to counter the piracy threat. Interestingly, however, other American companies now inform the USTR that foreign site-blocking measures are becoming a significant trade barrier.
Cloudflare Sees Piracy Blockades as Trade Barriers
To share its concerns, Cloudflare decided to participate in the annual trade barriers consultation for the first time this year. The company describes itself as a “leading connectivity cloud company” running one of the world’s largest networks, providing security, performance, and reliability services.
According to Cloudflare, several foreign countries disproportionately impact U.S. technology providers, with many concerns relating to site-blocking measures that aim to deter online piracy.
Spain
Cloudflare writes that Spanish courts allow rightsholders to request “overbroad court orders” that authorize IP address blocking. Since a single IP address can serve thousands of domains, disrupting pirates often means that many legitimate sites and services are blocked too, causing widespread collateral damage.
“This practice results in the widespread and repeated disruption of tens of thousands of unrelated, legitimate websites, as well as the disruption of digital services, with no judicial opportunity for remedy,” Cloudflare writes.
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