A lawyer for online message board 4chan says the platform will not pay a proposed fine from the UK’s media regulator, Ofcom, under the Online Safety Act.
Preston Byrne, managing partner of Byrne & Storm, said Ofcom had “provisionally decided” to impose a £20,000 fine, plus daily penalties, for failing to comply with its requests. Byrne argued the order has no force in the United States, describing it as part of an “illegal campaign of harassment” against American tech companies.
Ofcom, which launched an investigation into whether 4chan was complying with the Online Safety Act, declined to comment while proceedings remain ongoing.
Regulator’s Investigation
The dispute began in August when Ofcom issued a provisional notice of contravention to 4chan for failing to answer two requests for information. The regulator is assessing whether the site has proper measures in place to protect UK users from illegal content.
4chan, founded in 2003, has a long history of controversies tied to conspiracy theories, misogynistic campaigns, and other extreme content posted anonymously by users.
Legal Response From 4chan
In a statement shared on X, law firms Byrne & Storm and Coleman Law argued that 4chan is a US-based company, shielded by the First Amendment. They said American courts would not enforce foreign fines or censorship rules and warned that they were prepared to seek relief in US federal court if needed.
The firms also called on the Trump administration to use “all diplomatic and legal levers” to protect US companies from what they described as “extraterritorial censorship mandates.”
This clash comes amid growing friction between Washington and London over digital regulation. In August, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said the UK had backed down on its plan to demand a “backdoor” in Apple’s data protection system, citing US pressure. Soon after, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson warned that US companies could run afoul of American law if they weakened privacy protections to comply with overseas rules.
If 4chan wins its case in the US, Ofcom may explore other options, such as blocking the platform in the UK or restricting its financial operations there.
What The Author Thinks
The 4chan case feels less about one website and more about a growing clash between two competing visions of the internet. The UK wants to enforce stricter rules on online spaces, while US firms lean heavily on free speech protections. If neither side yields, users could be the ones caught in the middle—UK residents facing blocked access, and US companies facing mounting global distrust. The risk is that instead of harmonizing digital rules, we end up with a fractured internet where platforms operate under wildly different standards depending on where you log in.
Featured image credit: fk you via Flickr
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