The UK’s online safety push has hit resistance from 4chan, which has been fined £520,000 by Ofcom for breaching the Online Safety Act—and responded with open defiance.
The largest penalty, £450,000, targets the platform’s failure to introduce age checks to block children from accessing pornography. Ofcom also fined £50,000 for not assessing risks around illegal content and £20,000 for failing to explain how it protects users from criminal material.
Rather than engage, 4chan’s lawyer Preston Byrne dismissed the ruling and posted an AI-generated cartoon hamster image. He wrote: “In the only country in which 4chan operates, the United States, it is breaking no law and indeed its conduct is expressly protected by the First Amendment.”
Ofcom held its ground. Suzanne Cater said: “Companies – wherever they’re based – are not allowed to sell unsafe toys to children in the UK. And society has long protected youngsters from things like alcohol, smoking and gambling. The digital world should be no different.”
She added: “The UK is setting new standards for online safety. Age checks and risk assessments are cornerstones of our laws, and we’ll take robust enforcement action against firms that fall short.”
The clash exposes a deeper issue. Regulators can issue fines, but enforcement becomes difficult when platforms operate outside UK jurisdiction. Some companies comply or block UK users. Others, like 4chan, simply refuse—raising a critical question: can online safety laws work without global cooperation?
Author: Kieran Seymour