What are the ethical concerns of using Cloudflare for online content protection?
Michael Ko
Co-founder & CEO, Suped
Published 10 Aug 2025
Updated 19 Aug 2025
8 min read
Cloudflare stands as a critical backbone of the internet, providing services that enhance website performance, security, and reliability. Their content delivery network (CDN) and DDoS mitigation services are widely adopted, protecting countless websites from various online threats. However, their significant role in managing a large portion of web traffic also places them at the center of complex ethical debates, particularly concerning online content protection and moderation.
The very nature of their services means they often mediate between website owners, internet users, and various forms of online content, including legitimate and problematic material. This position raises fundamental questions about their responsibility, transparency, and the implications of their policies on internet freedom and safety. Examining these ethical concerns is crucial for understanding the broader landscape of online content protection.
Centralization and control
Cloudflare’s immense scale and market penetration lead to concerns about centralization of internet infrastructure. By providing services to a vast number of websites, they effectively become a gatekeeper for a significant portion of online content. This level of control, while offering robust security benefits, also means that decisions made by Cloudflare can have far-reaching consequences across the web.
Critics argue that this centralization poses risks to the open internet, as it concentrates power in a single entity to potentially filter, block, or prioritize content. While Cloudflare maintains its commitment to a free and open internet, the practical implications of such concentrated power remain a subject of debate.
The discussion often revolves around balancing security and accessibility. The company's unique position means it frequently finds itself at the crossroads of emerging ethical debates, navigating the complex interplay of protecting its customers while maintaining an ethical stance on the content flowing through its network.
Abuse and content moderation
One of the most contentious ethical concerns revolves around Cloudflare’s approach to abuse and content moderation. The company generally operates as a pass-through security and CDN service, meaning they do not host content directly and typically do not proactively monitor it. This stance is outlined in their abuse policies and approach, where they state that the vast majority of abuse reports concern websites using their services for security and content distribution.
However, this policy has led to significant criticism when websites hosting hate speech, extremist content, or even illegal material, like child sexual abuse material, leverage Cloudflare’s protection to remain online and resistant to takedowns. The ethical dilemma is whether a company providing internet infrastructure should bear more responsibility for the content that flows through its network, even if it doesn't directly host it.
There are reports of Cloudflare having a policy of doxxing complainers to alleged criminals, which is a deeply disturbing practice if true. This practice would disincentivize individuals from reporting abuse, potentially allowing harmful content to proliferate. The company's occasional decisions to terminate services for certain controversial sites, such as 8chan, show they do possess the power to act, but their general reluctance to do so broadly sparks ongoing ethical debates. This brings into question the company's neutrality as a tech company in light of its significant influence.
Complexities of content moderation
Navigating abuse reports is inherently difficult, but for a company with Cloudflare's reach, the impact of their policies is amplified. Their approach is often seen as prioritizing infrastructure neutrality over proactive content policing, a stance that has significant ethical ramifications for online safety.
For email senders, ensuring your content adheres to acceptable use policies is vital. This often helps prevent your emails from being blocked due to content or policy violations, even if not directly related to Cloudflare.
Transparency and accountability
The lack of transparency and public oversight in how Cloudflare makes decisions regarding content, particularly controversial content, is a significant ethical concern. When a single company holds such a pivotal position in internet infrastructure, its internal decision-making processes can have broad impacts on freedom of speech and access to information online.
Furthermore, there are concerns about Cloudflare’s role in how easily certain malicious actors might bypass security tools and teams. Some argue that Cloudflare’s services can inadvertently shield bad actors, making it harder for sites to protect themselves or for law enforcement to identify those engaging in illegal activities. The discussion around Cloudflare’s shift from guardian to gatekeeper highlights these worries about their power and accountability.
For email deliverability, this lack of transparency can manifest in unexpected ways, such as Google flagging CDN or email content as malicious, impacting sender reputation. Businesses need clear avenues for managing website abuse complaints, whether directly through their platform or through intermediaries.
AI scraping and data ethics
With the rise of artificial intelligence, Cloudflare has found itself at the forefront of new ethical debates, particularly concerning web scraping and data access for AI models. Recently, Cloudflare introduced policy shifts requiring AI companies to obtain explicit permission to crawl or scrape websites using their services. This move reflects a growing tension between content creators and AI developers over data usage and monetization.
Cloudflare has publicly accused AI search engines, such as Perplexity, of bypassing web security protocols like robots.txt restrictions to scrape content. This raises significant ethical questions about how AI tools access, use, and potentially exploit website content without proper authorization, potentially damaging content monetization strategies. This also relates to broader concerns about risks of sending emails to scraped addresses.
The company's new opt-in model for AI crawlers, where new websites default to blocking AI access unless explicitly allowed, signifies a major shift. This gives publishers greater agency over their content, potentially safeguarding the open internet from unauthorized AI data consumption. However, it also introduces a new layer of complexity for website owners who need to manage their content access policies, which includes considerations for protecting against unauthorized use of their content.
Traditional web scraping
Rules based: Typically respects robots.txt and website terms of service for ethical data collection.
Purpose focused: Often for market research, price comparison, or data aggregation within clear legal boundaries.
AI model training scraping
Data hungry: Often seeks vast amounts of data, sometimes bypassing robots.txt or using deceptive practices.
Ethical debate: Raises questions about copyright, fair use, and compensation for content creators.
Broader implications and outlook
Cloudflare’s extensive network and unique position within the internet ecosystem means that any issues, technical or ethical, can have broad ripple effects. For example, issues with adding DKIM records via CNAMEs with Cloudflare can impact email deliverability, highlighting the interconnectedness of their services with other online operations.
This also extends to the less obvious ethical concerns around privacy. Because Cloudflare sees the traffic of protected websites, it inherently has access to significant amounts of user data, including IP addresses. While they have services designed to protect user privacy, the sheer volume of data they handle necessitates stringent privacy policies and responsible data handling.
The balance between providing security services and maintaining ethical conduct in such a powerful role is an ongoing challenge. Stakeholders, from individual users to large corporations, must remain informed and vigilant about how these services impact the digital landscape. Organizations like ours focus on helping businesses navigate these complexities, ensuring their email security and deliverability practices remain robust and ethical.
Views from the trenches
Best practices
Actively monitor your website's content and traffic to ensure compliance with ethical guidelines and legal requirements.
Implement clear terms of service and acceptable use policies for your website to outline permissible content and behavior.
Utilize DMARC, SPF, and DKIM to enhance email authentication and improve deliverability, reducing spam and phishing.
Regularly review your CDN and security provider's policies on content moderation and data handling to align with your ethical stance.
Educate your team on ethical web scraping practices and ensure all data collection adheres to legal and ethical standards.
Common pitfalls
Assuming your CDN provider handles all content moderation, overlooking your own responsibility for hosted material.
Ignoring user complaints or abuse reports, which can lead to negative reputation and potential legal issues.
Failing to implement strong email authentication protocols like DMARC, leaving your domain vulnerable to spoofing and phishing.
Not understanding the ethical implications of AI scraping and how it might impact your website's content monetization.
Relying solely on one security provider, which can create a single point of failure and concentrate control.
Expert tips
Always maintain a clear separation of concerns: your infrastructure provider ensures uptime and security, but content responsibility ultimately rests with you.
Proactively engage with digital rights organizations and industry groups to stay informed on evolving ethical standards in online content protection.
Consider diversifying your web infrastructure where feasible, reducing reliance on a single major provider to mitigate centralization risks.
Regularly audit your website for vulnerabilities that could be exploited by malicious actors, regardless of CDN protection.
Develop an internal process for handling abuse complaints and content takedown requests promptly and transparently.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks says Cloudflare’s protection of criminal activity, including child sexual abuse materials, and their policy of doxxing complainers to criminals, makes it impossible for them to recommend or use their services.
2018-08-15 - Email Geeks
Marketer view
Marketer from Email Geeks says they found a disturbing article on how one tech company helps hate groups thrive, noting how Cloudflare refuses to regulate sadistic content it optimizes.
2018-08-15 - Email Geeks
Striking a balance in online protection
Cloudflare plays an undeniable role in the security and performance of the modern internet. However, its significant influence brings with it substantial ethical responsibilities, particularly in how it handles content moderation, centralization of power, and emerging issues like AI scraping. The ongoing debates highlight the challenges of balancing a free and open internet with the need to combat harmful and illegal online activities.
For businesses and individuals, understanding these ethical concerns is crucial. It informs decisions about where to host content, what security services to use, and how to maintain ethical standards in their own online presence. Ultimately, a robust and responsible internet ecosystem relies on all participants, including key infrastructure providers, upholding high ethical standards and fostering greater transparency.
