Cloudflare Keeps 1.1.1.1 Out of Piracy Blocking as French Court Rejects Canal+ Penalties

Last Updated on October 9, 2026 by Scottie Brockenshire

Cloudflare won't pay daily fines in France for leaving pirate sports sites reachable through its 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver. A Paris court rejected a request from pay-TV provider Canal+ to penalize the company and accepted that Cloudflare only has to do what's reasonable through its CDN. The ruling keeps one of the most popular public resolvers free of content blocks, and that's the part millions of people who rely on it to reach blocked streams will notice.

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What Happened

Over the past two years, French courts have ordered a growing list of intermediaries to block pirate sports streams. The targets now include regular ISPs, public DNS resolvers, VPN services, search engines and CDN providers. Cloudflare has received several of those orders. In April, the Paris Judicial Court told the company to block 21 domains tied to pirate Formula 1 streams and 16 tied to MotoGP. The orders covered both Cloudflare's DNS resolver and its CDN, and they didn't say how to block, only that access from France had to be prevented “by any effective means.”

Canal+, which requested the blockades, decided Cloudflare's response fell short. In May it went back to court and asked for 50,000 euros a day for every site that stayed accessible, plus the same amount for each new site that the media regulator Arcom reports. The broadcaster claimed Cloudflare blocked only through its CDN, leaving three of the 21 Formula 1 domains and three of the 16 MotoGP domains blocked, and it said two of those three went back online a week later. On September 17, a panel of three judges ruled on both requests and sided with Cloudflare.

Key Facts

Ruling: on September 17, a three-judge panel of the Paris Judicial Court rejected the penalty requests in the Formula 1 and MotoGP cases.
Penalty sought: 50,000 euros per day for every site left accessible, and the same for each new site Arcom reports to Cloudflare.
April orders: 21 domains linked to pirate Formula 1 streams and 16 linked to MotoGP.
Compliance claim: Canal+ said only 3 of 21 and 3 of 16 domains were blocked, then argued Cloudflare blocked 72.6% of the ordered names.
Court's finding: Cloudflare only has to take reasonable measures, which it did by blocking through its CDN.
DNS untouched: Cloudflare has not blocked any content through the 1.1.1.1 public DNS resolver, despite orders from French and Italian courts.
CDN blocking: Cloudflare geoblocked 1,238 domains in France in the second half of 2025 under a single order, and 662 domains in the first half under seven orders.
Legal costs: Canal+'s request for 20,000 euros was also denied.

What It Means

The decision splits two jobs that used to be treated as one. A CDN can cut off a site that runs through its network, but a public DNS resolver is a lookup service, and Cloudflare argues its architecture doesn't allow targeted blocking. The court agreed that the company can't be blamed when a site owner switches to another CDN or sets up a mirror. For anyone who uses 1.1.1.1 to get around network-level blocks, the practical result is that the resolver keeps working in France for now, even though Canal+ can still appeal. Rules on VPNs, DNS resolvers and geo-blocking differ by country, so check your local laws and the terms of service of any platform you use.

Related Guide

Canal+ has been pushing French courts to name VPNs and other intermediaries in its blocking orders. Our breakdown of the Canal+ blocking orders that named three VPNs explains what those rulings cover and why they matter for viewers.

None of this is legal advice. Rules on VPNs, DNS resolvers and geo-blocking differ by country, so check your local laws and the terms of service of any platform you use. A VPN and a public resolver are privacy and access tools, and how you use them is your responsibility.

Source: TorrentFreak.