On Saturday, Cloudflare, a U.S.-based internet infrastructure provider, yielded to pressure and blocked the infamous messaging board Kiwi Farms from its platform. This decision followed strong criticism from Canadian activist Clara Sorrenti and her supporters, who accused Cloudflare of providing security to Kiwi Farms against Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. Sorrenti alleged that Kiwi Farms orchestrated a swatting campaign against her, leading to her arrest in August. Despite Cloudflare expressing discomfort with the idea earlier, the company confirmed on September 4 that it had de-platformed Kiwi Farms. Subsequently, the Russia-based DDoS-Guard terminated its DDoS protection services for a version of the Kiwi Farms website a day later.

### What is Kiwi Farms?

Kiwi Farms is identified as a hate group allowing users to harass women, neurodivergent individuals, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Known for “doxxing,” the group publicly releases personal details of vulnerable individuals categorized as “lolcows” for entertainment, often resulting in harassment and swatting.

Swatting involves sending law enforcement to targets’ homes through fraudulent reports. Kiwi Farms has been linked to multiple suicides of those targeted. The site was blocked in New Zealand after the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings. Kiwi Farms swatted Sorrenti on August 5, resulting in her arrest. She claimed it was an attempt to humiliate her.

Sorrenti and her community used hashtags like #DropKiwifarms and #CloudflareProtectsTerrorists to pressure Cloudflare. While Cloudflare did not host Kiwi Farms, it protected it from DDoS attacks.

### Impact of Cloudflare’s Action

Cloudflare’s action aimed at preventing DDoS attacks on online platforms is significant. CEO Matthew Prince, on September 4, described the decision as “extraordinary” and “dangerous,” citing unprecedented threats to human life from Kiwi Farms. Cloudflare had previously blocked sites like ‘The Daily Stormer’ and 8chan for reprehensible content.

Kiwi Farms, reacting to the suspension, claimed the notice was vague, and they had received no communication from law enforcement about any threat to life on the site. They announced repairs to their Tor URL, a privacy browser for the deep and dark web.

Sorrenti, on September 6, asserted that Kiwi Farms was in decline, lacking major income and options. Despite this, the platform may survive in a more erratic form unless more web-hosting providers follow suit in dropping Kiwi Farms. Cloudflare, powering nearly 10 percent of all internet requests for over 2.5 billion people globally, is a major player in the online infrastructure landscape.