🚫 Cloudflare Funded a Teen Developer — Then Terminated His Account

By Netvora News

At just 16 years old, a Finnish developer was on the verge of launching something big: Imperial, a privacy-first image hosting platform built for speed and security. After being accepted into the Cloudflare Startup Program in early 2025 and granted $5,000 in service credits, his project seemed ready to scale.

But within weeks, everything collapsed.

⚡ A Promising Start

The young developer had all the signs of early-stage startup success. He joined Cloudflare’s prestigious program — which helps startups grow with free tools and infrastructure — and began building on services like:

“I verified my account and submitted valid ID,” he told Netvora. “Everything was working — until it wasn’t.”

🛑 Instant Shutdown, No Warning

Just days after verifying his identity, he was suddenly logged out of his dashboard. Moments later, an email arrived: his account would be terminated because he was under 18.

“No support. No chance to fix it. They just pulled the plug.”

Despite dozens of follow-ups — including support tickets, GDPR requests, and even appeals through a second account — the response was silence.

“They said it was escalated — and then ghosted me.”

🔥 A Startup Crushed Overnight

The termination didn’t just delete his account — it completely broke his product and cut off his access to all services.

This added insult to injury: he was being billed for services he could no longer use, under an account that no longer existed.

“Development stopped. Users lost trust. And I couldn’t guarantee uptime to potential funders,”

he said. The loss of platform access stalled growth, and the ongoing billing — with no response from support — made it even harder to recover.

Recovery is still ongoing — but the momentum is hard to regain.

💥 A Legal and Personal Battle

What hurt most wasn’t the tech loss — it was the lack of respect.

“I wasn’t taken seriously because of my age. That’s what hurt the most.”

Instead of giving up, he filed a formal complaint with the Finnish Data Protection Authority (DPA), accusing Cloudflare of violating GDPR by mishandling his personal data and account. He specifically cited the fact that, even after account termination, Cloudflare continued billing him monthly, despite his data and services being removed — a potential breach of EU data protection laws.

“You didn’t just terminate an account,” he says, addressing Cloudflare. “You terminated opportunity — and still charged me for it.”

✊ A Message to the Startup Community

This isn’t just a story about Cloudflare — it’s about how young developers are treated in the tech world.

“You’re never too small or too young to defend your rights. If a company cuts you off unfairly — fight back. I’m 16, and I’m doing just that.”

💬 Have you experienced sudden platform shutdowns or unfair treatment as a developer? Reach out to Netvora — your voice matters.