US sanctions push Italian privacy collective to shut down

Autistici/Inventati (A/I), an Italian volunteer-run collective providing privacy-focused digital services, said it would shut down after the US designated it a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

On August 26, the US Departments of State and the Treasury announced sanctions against A/I under Executive Order 13224, alleging that it provided infrastructure for “far-left militants across the world.” The order set a wind-down deadline of September 25. A/I strongly rejects the accusation and says it provides digital self-defence tools for activists, individuals, groups and associations.

Founded in 2001, A/I offered email, mailing lists, messaging apps, web hosting and blogging platforms designed to resist censorship and surveillance. Within days of the announcement, one domain became unreachable, donation gateways closed and bank accounts were frozen. On September 6, the group announced that it would shut down to protect users from potential repercussions.

Since 2018, A/I has been a legally recognised non-profit organisation, Associazione AI-ODV, based in San Giuliano Terme, Italy. As of September 6, its infrastructure included about 20,000 email accounts, 20,000 blogs, 5,000 mailing lists and 1,500 websites. The figures were smaller than Proton’s 100 million registered accounts and Riseup’s 6 million subscribers.

The action follows the US targeting of Tornado Cash in 2022, but shifts attention from hosted content toward the infrastructure that supports it.