Report from Sky News
In Brief – Ofcom, the UK online safety regulator, has fined 4chan £450,000 for failing to prevent children from accessing pornography. The regulator also ordered the platform to introduce effective age checks by April 2 or face additional fines of £500 per day. Ofcom also imposed penalties for failing to assess risks related to illegal content and not clearly outlining protections against such material in its terms of service. Ofcom is acting under its authority from the Online Safety Act, which came into force last July and requires digital platforms with UK users to tackle harmful and illegal content. 4chan has aggressively challenged Ofcom’s authority over the US-based company, including filing a lawsuit in US federal court claiming the regulator is violating its free speech rights. Ofcom has moved to dismiss the case. If the company continues to refuse to pay fines, Ofcom could undertake legal recovery measures and warned that continued non-compliance could trigger “business disruption measures,” including forcing UK internet providers to block access to 4chan entirely.
Context – 4chan is a platform long known for hosting objectionable and pornographic content. Ofcom began their investigation last June and the platform, which claims to have no operations in the UK, has rejected the foreign regulator’s authority to apply British law to a company based in the US. A lawyer for 4chan mocked Ofcom over its fine by sending an AI-generated cartoon of a Godzilla-like hamster, joking that the latest fine was too large for the hamster named Mr. Whiskers that received the initial Ofcom complaint as shredded cage bedding last year, and reserved the right to respond to future Ofcom notices with images of even larger rodents. Animated hamsters aside, legal fights over the extraterritorial jurisdiction of digital laws are certain to emerge more often as national regulators start to enforce proliferating online regulations on small, remote digital firms. Those who prefer that regulators exercise authority within their borders should hope Ofcom simply orders internet providers in the UK to block the platform. Much cleaner.