Matthew Prince is a name that has become closely associated with internet security, digital freedom, and the fight against unethical data practices. As the co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare, one of the world’s largest internet infrastructure companies, Prince plays a vital role in shaping how the internet works and how it is defended.
Prince co-founded Cloudflare in 2009 along with Michelle Zatlyn and Lee Holloway. The company, headquartered in San Francisco, now handles about 16 percent of global internet traffic. Cloudflare operates as a content delivery network, or CDN, which means it helps websites load faster by storing content closer to users. It also protects websites from cyberattacks like distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and offers tools for internet security, privacy, and performance.
Before launching Cloudflare, Matthew Prince had already shown a strong interest in technology and law. He studied English Literature and Computer Science at Trinity College in Connecticut. He later earned a law degree from the University of Chicago Law School and an MBA from Harvard Business School. His unique mix of technical and legal education helped shape his leadership approach. He often speaks about digital rights, content ownership, and the responsibility of tech companies in the modern web.
Prince’s early work included Project Honey Pot, a community-driven effort to identify and track spam and malicious bots. This project laid the foundation for what would become Cloudflare’s mission: protecting websites and making the internet faster and safer. Under his leadership, Cloudflare went public in 2019 and rapidly grew into a key player in the digital infrastructure space.
More recently, Matthew Prince has made headlines for his strong stance against unauthorized data scraping by artificial intelligence bots. In 2025, Cloudflare announced that it would start blocking AI crawlers by default. These bots often collect articles, images, and other content from websites without permission, using the data to train large AI models. Prince said that such practices harm content creators, reduce web traffic, and threaten the future of a free and open internet.
Prince believes that content creators should have control over how their material is used. He introduced a “pay per crawl” option through Cloudflare, allowing website owners to charge AI companies for access to their data. This move puts power back in the hands of publishers and protects smaller sites from being exploited by AI developers.
Cloudflare had already launched tools to help websites block AI bots in 2023, but under Prince’s direction, the company decided to make that blocking feature a default setting. According to Prince, the goal is not to stop progress in artificial intelligence but to ensure that it develops in a way that respects the rights of the original content creators.
He has also spoken out on broader digital policy issues. Prince is a defender of internet neutrality and has criticized efforts to weaken Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields online platforms from liability for user-generated content. He argues that weakening these protections could lead to more censorship and less innovation.
Prince has also made controversial decisions when it comes to who can use Cloudflare’s services. In the past, he has shut down service to websites that promote hate speech or engage in illegal activities. These actions have sparked debates about the role of infrastructure providers in policing the web, but Prince has maintained that some lines should not be crossed.
Matthew Prince continues to be a central figure in tech policy and infrastructure debates. His work affects billions of internet users around the world every day, even if they don’t realize it. As artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and online rights remain major global concerns, Prince’s decisions will likely shape the future of the internet for years to come.
