4chan will refuse to pay regulator fines, claims lawyer

The online message board 4chan has declared it will not pay fines imposed by the UK’s media regulator, Ofcom, as part of its enforcement of the new Online Safety Act.

A lawyer representing the US-based company claims that the UK’s attempts to regulate it are an “illegal campaign of harassment.”

Ofcom, which has been investigating 4chan’s compliance with its new legal obligations, has issued a provisional notice of contravention for the site’s failure to provide requested information. The regulator plans to impose an initial fine of £20,000, with daily penalties thereafter until 4chan complies.

However, Preston Byrne, managing partner of law firm Byrne & Storm, stated that Ofcom’s notices “create no legal obligations in the United States,” where 4chan is incorporated.

In a public statement, the law firm asserted that “American businesses do not surrender their First Amendment rights because a foreign bureaucrat sends them an email” and vowed to resist any attempts to enforce the fine in US federal court.

This standoff highlights a major point of contention between the UK’s new regulatory regime and US legal principles, particularly those concerning freedom of speech. The Trump administration has also pushed back against what it sees as regulatory overreach by the UK and EU, urging diplomatic and legal action to protect US companies from “extraterritorial censorship mandates.”

While Ofcom has declined to comment on the ongoing investigation, legal experts suggest that if 4chan successfully fights the fine in a US court, the UK regulator may have other options.

Ofcom could seek a court order to disrupt the service’s UK business by requiring its removal from search results, blocking payments, or even ordering internet service providers to block UK access to the site entirely.

Says Lauren Wills-Dixon, head of data privacy at law firm Gordons:

“This is interesting for a number of reasons. Firstly, this is one of our first indications of Ofcom’s appetite to enforce against non-compliant organisations, and secondly that it tests the extra-territorial scope of the Online Safety Act, which applies to companies outside of the UK should they have ‘links to the UK’.

“The Government has confirmed this includes if the service has a significant number of UK users, the UK is a target market, or it is capable of being accessed by UK users and if there is a material risk of significant harm to such users.

“Global platforms should be aware of their legal duties and requirements of each territory in which they operate to ensure they do not fall foul of local laws. This is no easy task given the number of regimes across the UK, EU and beyond.”