User:Ryanknight24/Sandbox

Free Speech Debate and Hate Speech Content
Cloudflare has been criticized for providing anti-hacking and denial of service protection tools to clients whose websites include hate speech content. The company said in 2014 that it has a content neutrality policy and that it opposes the policing of its millions of customers on free speech grounds, except in cases where its customers break the law. The company has also faced criticism for providing DDoS protection to websites allegedly connected to terrorism groups, but Cloudflare has maintained that no law enforcement agency has asked the company to discontinue these services and it closely monitors its obligations under U.S. laws.

In 2017, Cloudflare stopped providing its services to neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer after an announcement on the website asserted that the "upper echelons" of Cloudflare were "secretly supporters of their ideology". A self-described "free speech absolutist", Cloudflare's CEO Matthew Prince, in a blog post, vowed never to succumb to external pressure again and sought to create a "political umbrella" for the future. Prince further maintained it is dangerous for large companies to decide what is allowed to stay online, a concern echoed by a number of civil liberties groups and privacy experts. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group, said that services such as Cloudflare "should not be adjudicating what speech is acceptable", adding that "when illegal activity, like inciting violence or defamation, occurs, the proper channel to deal with it is the legal system."

In 2019, Cloudflare was criticized for providing services to the discussion and imageboard 8chan, which allowed users to post and discuss content, including images of child sexual abuse, with minimal interference from site administrators. A Cloudflare representative stated that Cloudflare "does not host the referenced websites, cannot block websites, and is not in the business of hiding companies that host illegal content". After a user of 8chan posted a manifesto on an 8chan forum and then committed a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas in August of 2019, Cloudflare discontinued its services to 8chan.

In 2022, a campaign was launched by transgender activist Clara Sorrenti, who had previously been targeted by Kiwi Farms, to pressure Cloudflare to stop providing services to them. On August 31, 2022, Cloudflare responded to the campaign with a blog post that likened its services to that of a public utility, stating that "Just as the telephone company doesn't terminate your line if you say awful, racist, bigoted things, we have concluded ... that turning off security services because we think what you publish is despicable is the wrong policy." The company also defended their decision by saying that "where they had provided DDoS protection services to an anti-LGBTIQ+ website, they donated 100% of the fees earned to an organization fighting for LGBTIQ+ rights".

On September 3, 2022, Cloudflare ceased its services to Kiwi Farms, citing urgent escalating rhetoric against targeted individuals, stating that there is an "unprecedented emergency and immediate threat to human life". According to The Washington Post, there was a "surge in credible violent threats stemming from the site" and CEO Matthew Prince said that Cloudflare believed "there is an imminent danger, and the pace at which law enforcement is able to respond to those threats we don't think is fast enough to keep up."

Cloudflare in Russia
After Russia invaded Ukraine in late February 2022, Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said “Cloudflare should not protect Russian web-resources while their tanks and missiles attack our kindergartens.” Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince responded that "[i]ndiscriminately terminating service would do little to harm the Russian government but would both limit [Russian citizens'] access to information outside the country and make significantly more vulnerable those who have used us to shield themselves as they have criticized the government." The company later said it had minimal sales and commercial activity in Russia and had "terminated any customers we have identified as tied to sanctioned entities." In June 2022, Cloudflare announced it would provide free services to the Ukrainian government and Ukrainian telecoms.