Ofcom concedes defeat in 4chan case
Archived — this story has rotated out of today’s deck. It is kept here in full.
The gist
Ofcom's chief executive told UK MPs the regulator may not recover fines if foreign courts block it.
Nine of 11 online safety fines issued since March 2025 remain unpaid.
Background
Ofcom is the UK regulator that spent more than a year pursuing 4chan, a US-based online forum, under the Online Safety Act, fining it hundreds of thousands of pounds over alleged failures on age verification, illegal-content risk assessments and information requests. 4chan refused to pay and mocked the regulator's demands with AI-generated hamster images, while its lawyer, Preston Byrne, argued Ofcom had no practical way to enforce penalties against a US company with no UK assets. The question of whether the fines can ever be collected came to a head after a US court dismissed 4chan's own lawsuit against Ofcom on jurisdictional grounds but signalled US courts might shield the site from enforcement.
How it unfolded
- Aug 22, 20254chan was reported to be refusing to comply with the UK's Online Safety Act, fined $25,000 plus daily penalties, and saying it would not pay.
- September 2026The US District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed 4chan's lawsuit against Ofcom on jurisdictional grounds, while indicating 4chan could seek protection from American courts if Ofcom tried to enforce a judgment in the US.
- Sep 18, 2026Preston Byrne published a post on the 4chan v. Ofcom ruling.
- Oct 20, 2026In testimony before the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes said Ofcom may be unable to recover fines if foreign courts get in the way, and said 11 online safety fines had been issued since March 2025, with only two paid.
- Oct 20, 2026Preston Byrne wrote that Ofcom had conceded defeat in the 4chan enforcement.
Who’s saying what
- Official
- Dame Melanie Dawes said that if foreign courts try to get in the way, there will be a point at which Ofcom has to accept it won't be able to recover the money, though it would keep pursuing the money as far as it can.
- Party
- 4chan's lawyer Preston Byrne said that insofar as a political organization like Ofcom is capable of admitting defeat, it did so in the 4chan enforcement, and that the case is over for all practical purposes.
- Caution
- Dexerto reported that Ofcom's comments do not cancel 4chan's fines and that Ofcom has not publicly said it is abandoning its enforcement action.
Still unverified
Byrne predicted Ofcom will next go back to Parliament to seek authority for 'interim business disruption measures' to block foreign websites in the UK, and asserted that Ofcom has targeted '200-ish American platforms' with censorship orders, of which only four refused; both are his claims.