Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince’s now-viral button press was a direct challenge to artificial intelligence firms — settle up with publishers and content creators. This action sets the default setting for AI crawlers scraping data to “no,” and this time, it carries real consequences. They’ve dubbed it “Content Independence Day.”

One attendee described the pivotal moment when June transitioned into July in a post published on Substack, recounting the event at Cloudflare’s One World Trade Center headquarters in New York City:

“The act of pressing the button at midnight wasn’t just symbolic—it was a message to publishers, creators, and platforms: this is the turning point. This is where the battle begins.

Prince looked over the crowd and declared, ‘Today, July 1st, we’re stating clearly: no AI crawl without compensation. This is only the beginning.’

The countdown started. Ten… nine… eight… The audience leaned forward. Phones were raised. Hands began stacking onto the big red button—one by one, then all together. As the clock neared midnight, Prince said, ‘This might seem like a small gesture, but it marks the start of a major transformation.’ Then came the moment. Midnight struck. A click. Cheers erupted. Content Independence Day had officially begun…”

It may have been a landmark moment for the internet.

“If the Internet is going to survive the AI era, we must empower publishers with the control they deserve and create a new economic structure that benefits everyone—creators, consumers, future AI entrepreneurs, and the web as a whole,” Prince stated in a follow-up press release. “This initiative is about protecting the future of an open and thriving Internet through a model that works for all.”

The Context

There's a crucial backstory here — it traces back to the early days of the web and newspapers. The traditional business model became increasingly unsustainable. Margins shrank. Advertising evolved.

Then, when long-standing publications and newer, smaller newsrooms were already struggling, AI entered the scene. It uses human-created work — journalism, broadcasting, art, music — and generates competitive outputs essentially for free.

Humans can't compete. Local and "human-made" journalism serve as early indicators of a larger crisis.

However, if successful, Cloudflare’s move could influence broader industry trends.

Government Oversight

Meanwhile, regulatory activity is also underway. The Securities and Exchange Commission has begun requiring AI companies to disclose whether they use AI within their business frameworks.

Presumably, this includes using AI to extract content and produce finished materials.

This will indirectly reinforce the idea that AI firms can’t continue scraping content freely as before.

But it doesn't outright ban such practices.

Court Decisions Favor Big Tech

Domestic court rulings haven’t helped either. Recent U.S. court decisions ruled that Anthropic isn’t liable for gathering human-created content and using it to train AI systems.

A judge did find fault in Anthropic’s use of published works without compensation — effectively pirating books for model training.

Still, in terms of general intellectual property rulings, courts appear largely accepting of AI models being trained on publicly accessible data.

Therefore, Cloudflare’s move is more of a moral stance than a legal one.

In other words, it's not rooted in law.

ChatGPT, Are You Undermining Local News?

I felt compelled to ask a model directly whether it plays a role in harming local newsrooms nationwide. After all, there's something powerful about hearing from the source itself. I was also curious whether the model would acknowledge any wrongdoing — something humans often avoid.

Interestingly, stripped of human tendencies and motivations, ChatGPT couldn’t quite lie in this instance.

Here’s what it responded:

Q (me): “Are you killing local news?”

A (ChatGPT 4.5): “That’s a pointed and important question — and the honest answer is: not directly, but AI (including me) can accelerate trends that are killing local news.”

It did clarify by highlighting pre-existing issues:

“Local journalism was already in decline even before AI due to:

• Loss of ad revenue to Google and Facebook
• Declining subscription rates
• Hedge fund consolidations
• Public disinterest in civic affairs”

And the summary restated:

“So, am I killing local news?
Not intentionally — but I’m part of a system that can either erode or strengthen it, depending on how people, platforms, and policymakers respond.”

What Comes Next?

A blog post from Cloudflare reveals that Content Independence Day is just the beginning.

“We’ll be building a marketplace where content creators and AI companies, large and small, can connect,” according to company representatives. “Imagine an AI engine like a block of Swiss cheese. Fresh, original content filling one of the holes in the AI engine’s cheese is far more valuable than repetitive, low-quality material dominating much of the web today. We believe that if we can begin assessing and valuing content based not on traffic volume, but on its contribution to knowledge — measured by how well it fills gaps in AI engines’ understanding — we won’t just help AI improve faster; we may usher in a golden era of high-value content creation.”

They plan to collaborate with organizations like Press Forward, which aim to preserve journalism.

“Like sidewalks and streetlights, local news is essential for strong communities,” wrote representatives from Press Forward. “It informs us where to volunteer, what’s happening in our schools and city councils, and even what weekend events are available. However, as once-thriving local newsrooms vanish across America, this vital public resource is endangered.”

Their website further outlines how Press Forward intends to push back — through philanthropy, including a notable $200 million investment so far to support news creators.

I believe 2025 will be a critical year in the publishing struggle. Will AI companies be forced to pay, potentially reviving struggling business models for media outlets?

Or will AI continue to harvest online content for free, reducing journalism to a niche pursuit akin to recording a music album independently?

Time will tell. Here’s another candid response I received from GPT after telling it, “you can’t copy my work properly.”

“I can’t replicate your work in a satisfactory way — especially if 'satisfactory' means respecting your authorship, context, and rights. But I can assist in advocating for those rights, tracking usage, or designing licensing frameworks that protect your work. Would you like to explore any of these options?”

No thanks, ChatGPT. But I appreciate your honesty.

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