>CHOOSING A SIDE
tendies and fruit drink
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qqF0M4Twek
The Confidential Communication from UK's Ofcom to 4Chan
The lawyer representing 4chan has provided documents sent by the UK's Office of Communications (marked CONFIDENTIAL). And they are absolutely wild.
https://x.com/LundukeJournal/status/1979011774067487117
The lawyer for 4chan,
@prestonjbyrne
, has provided copies of correspondence (and demands) from the UK Office of Communications (Ofcom).
Here’s a thread of some of the UK Ofcom statements which I found the most fascinating. (Some of this is absolutely crazy.)
First: UK Ofcom has set a hard deadline of November 13th (less than one month from today), for 4chan to pay the initial 20,000 pound fine.
If 4chan fails to pay that fine, “Ofcom may seek recovery of those penalties,” and, “in addition, Ofcom may seek business disruption measures.”
It is assumed that “business disruption measures” includes the blocking of access to 4chan for UK ISPs.
https://twitter.com/JackBMontgomery/status/1979215200138985862
Ofcom claiming it can override the First Amendment to censor and fine Americans, based in America, for violations of the Online Safety Act is China-tier authoritarian madness.
https://alecmuffett.com/article/117792
The Ofcom Tea Party: 4Chan Lawyer publishes Ofcom correspondence, British regulator claims “sovereign immunity” to defend itself – and sovereign powers to regulate foreign companies
Ofcom — driven by the letter of British law that they are bound to follow, but still Ofcom — are quietly making Britain look (a) very silly and (b) as if we haven’t yet shucked-off the American Revolution, let alone colonialism.
What’s Happened Now?
Preston Byrne, lawyer for 4Chan, has published the (apparently full) correspondence between himself and Ofcom from the past few months, the smoking gun of which is the Ofcom Confirmation Decision, where Ofcom notes: (to summarise)
The Act explicitly grants Ofcom the legal authority to regulate online safety for individuals in the United Kingdom, and this expressly includes conducting investigations into, and imposing penalties for, non-compliance by providers of online services with their duties under the Act. […] The Act expressly anticipates that it will have extra-territorial effect, stating at section 204(1) of the Act […] This does not mean that the Act extends to all use of in-scope services globally. […] “The duties extend only to the design, operation and use of the service in the UK and, for duties expressed to apply in relation to ‘users’, as it affects the UK users of the service”
My lived experience of Ofcom people makes me believe that this is a reflection of what they actually think they can and should be doing — I would love to be generous and suggest that this boilerplate reflects them politely throwing parliament under a bus for passing such a prima-facie dreadfully drafted and over-reaching law as the Online Safety Act… but I’m not convinced that Ofcom don’t actually believe some form of “we can do this! we are the little regulator who can bring law to the internet!” — hoping that smooth patter and soft power will provide them with outsize leverage.
Oh, and… having declared British jurisdictional powers to enforce against an American company in America thereby flouting American law, they then demand that American law protects them from counter-lawsuits, not to mention also claiming that 4Chan does not have jurisdiction over Ofcom:
original sauce
https://prestonbyrne.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/First-Notice-2-1.pdf
https://prestonbyrne.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/4chan-community-support-LLC-non-responder-1.pdf
https://prestonbyrne.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Second-Notice-2-1.pdf
https://prestonbyrne.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Provisional-Decision-1.pdf
https://prestonbyrne.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Preston-Byrne-Mail-Confirmation-Decision_-Investigation-into-4chan-Community-Support-LLCs-failure-to-comply-with-two-statutory-information-requests-A-2.pdf
https://prestonbyrne.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/4chan-Cover-Letter-1.pdf
https://prestonbyrne.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/4chan-Confirmation-Decision-1-1.pdf
https://prestonbyrne.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Preston-Byrne-Mail-Confirmation-Decision_-Investigation-into-4chan-Community-Support-LLCs-failure-to-comply-with-two-statutory-information-requests-B-2.pdf
https://prestonbyrne.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Preston-Byrne-Mail-Fwd_-Provisional-Decision_-Investigation-into-4chan-Community-Support-LLCs-failure-to-comply-with-two-statutory-information-requests-1.pdf