Both Spainish and Italian governments created laws for which these companies are going after Cloudflare. Europeans elected them and work in those governments and courts.
Expecting large companies in any country not to have lawyers figure out how to use and abuse this stuff is pretty naive. Heavy regulatory environments are very popular in Europe and just like America they almost always benefit/protect entrenched powers while being sold (and defended online) as necessary to protect the small players and upstarts.
The internet has been warning about the risks of excessive anti piracy laws being anti-open internet for as long as I remember.
What I am against is equating leader's behavior and people's behavior. It's not a nazi Germany situation where the people supported this action, it's a situation where most people don't know about it, and those who know are probably against it. It's such a minor issue that until something very big will happen and go on the news, nobody will care about it since people are mostly trying to make a living without much thought about what happens outside their garden
Um, you do know that a good chunk of the logistics involved were about hiding what was going on so that the populace wouldn't object, yes?
So in that regard no, we don't have elected leaders, since Ursula, the de-facto EU leader, makes giant trade and political deals in our name, like regarding Covid and Ukraine, but none of us here voted for her, nobody likes her, she's been incompetent as German politician, she's incompetent and corrupt as an EU politician, she's been groomed since youth for this position due to her influential family, and yet we can't vote her out if we don't like it since we didn't vote for her to begin with.
So when someone you didn't vote for has sovereignty over you and your country, I'm not sure how people can look at this and say it's a democratic arrangement. Do you think a privileged upper class politician from Germany has any clue about the impact or struggles of the average citizen in say, Bulgaria, when she makes decisions for the whole EU?
In other words, I think it is fair to say that Italy pulls shit like this because enough Italian voters want it to happen or otherwise let it happen.
You also have to add the fact that this issue goes relatively "unnoticed" compared to other issues that are perceived as much more important
Are you american? Should you be held responsible for Trumps' and Musks' actions?
I did not vote for Trump and I think he belongs in prison. I am not responsible as an individual but as an American I do accept that elections have consequences that we are all collectively responsible for. Sovereignty rests with We The People.
The Democratic Party lost a crazy contest to a crazy man and honestly I'm even more furious with the Democrats for losing an election that they had absolutely no business losing than I am with Trump right now.
Regardless, my point was more that the Europeans seem to delight in their heavy-handed regulations and obnoxious court orders rather than address the real issue of why people feel the need to go out of their way to stream sports events via the black market or rolling up their sleeves and providing compelling alternatives to all of these big bad American tech companies they love to hate but can't stop using.