What is Cloudflare’s role when you file a DMCA notice?
Cloudflare is a content delivery network (CDN) and reverse proxy, not a traditional web hosting company. When a user visits a website using Cloudflare, the request passes through Cloudflare’s global network before reaching the actual origin server, which is owned by a separate website hosting provider such as The-Online.com, Bluehost, Hostinger or GoDaddy.
Because of this architecture, Cloudflare typically cannot remove infringing content itself. When it receives a valid DMCA notice, it forwards the complaint to the website operator and origin hosting provider, then provides you with the website hosting provider’s contact details (usually abuse email address) so you can follow up directly. In the small number of cases where content is definitively stored on Cloudflare’s own infrastructure (Cloudflare Stream, Pages, Workers, Workers KV, or Images), Cloudflare acts as the hosting provider and follows the full DMCA notice-and-takedown process under 17 U.S.C. § 512.
Cloudflare does not reveal the IP address of the origin server. It just provide the origin server’s web hosting provider’s contact details. Usually, if a The-Online.com hosting customer uses Cloudflare to boost their site’s speed and if Cloudflare recives a DMCA takedown notice it will forward it to The Online and here we forward it to our customer to take necessary action (if applicable).
Did You Know: The Online is one of the largest web hosting providers that uses Cloudflare Enterprise plan to offer fastest web hosting speeds for Managed WordPress hosting and Business Hosting.
