4Chan Refuses To Comply With UK Censorship, Now Faces $20,000 Fine With “Daily Penalties”
It’s hard to remember sometimes thanks to it’s eye-rollingly Flanderized reputation as the internet’s ‘website boogeyman’, but 4chan is still capable of doing the right thing – Case in point, their recent refusal to comply with the UK’s censorious Online Safety Act.
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The popular image board’s stand-off with the UK government first kicked-off in January following the latter’s announcement that they would be requiring “all services which allow pornography” to implement mandatory ID verification “by July 2025 at the latest to protect children from encountering it.”
“[Our new guidance] confirms that any age-checking methods deployed by services must be technically accurate, robust, reliable and fair in order to be considered highly effective;ny age-checking methods deployed by services must be technically accurate, robust, reliable and fair in order to be considered highly effective,” wrote The Office of Communications. “[It also sets out a] non-exhaustive list of methods that we consider are capable of being highly effective. They include: open banking, photo ID matching, facial age estimation, mobile network operator age checks, credit card checks, digital identity services and email-based age estimation.”
After refusing to comply with an April request from Ofcom to produce a risk assessment report regarding the ability for minors to access adult materials on their website, 4chan was subsequently informed in June that the UK agency would be launching a direct investigation into whether the site “has failed, or is failing, to comply with its duties to protect its users from illegal content”.
Ostensibly by way of their current owner Hiroyuki Nishimura, the site’s Delaware-based 4chan Community Support LLC operating entity retained the legal services of attorneys Preston Byrne, Byrne & Storm, P.C., and Ron Coleman, Coleman Law P.C., who proceeded to formally reject Ofcom’s legal threats on their client’s behalf.
As published to the public on August 15th:
“Re: Statement Regarding Ofcom’s Reported Provisional Notice – 4chan Community Support LLC
Byrne & Storm, P.C. (@ByrneStorm) and Coleman Law, P.C. (@RonColeman) represent 4chan Community Support LLC (“4chan”).
According to press reports, the U.K. Office of Communications (“Ofcom”) has issued a provisional notice under the Online Safety Act alleging a contravention by 4chan and indicating an intention to impose a penalty of £20,000, plus daily penalties thereafter.
4chan is a United States company, incorporated in Delaware, with no establishment, assets, or operations in the United Kingdom. Any attempt to impose or enforce a penalty against 4chan will be resisted in U.S. federal court.
American businesses do not surrender their First Amendment rights because a foreign bureaucrat sends them an e-mail. Under settled principles of U.S. law, American courts will not enforce foreign penal fines or censorship codes.
If necessary, we will seek appropriate relief in U.S. federal court to confirm these principles.
United States federal authorities have been briefed on this matter.
The Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, was reportedly warned by the White House to cease targeting Americans with U.K. censorship codes (according to reporting in the Telegraph on July 30th).
Despite these warnings, Ofcom continues its illegal campaign of harassment against American technology firms. A political solution to this matter is urgently required and that solution must come from the highest levels of American government.
We call on the Trump Administration to invoke all diplomatic and legal levers available to the United States to protect American companies from extraterritorial censorship mandates.
Our client reserves all rights.”
As of writing, neither Ofcom or 4chan have offered any further public comments or statements on the above matter.
