Messageboard 4chan refuses to pay fine over ‘free speech’

The communications regulator, Ofcom, issued 4chan with a £20,000 fine on October 13 for failing to provide information about the risk of illegal content on its service. It also imposed a daily penalty of £100 per day, for either 60 days or until 4chan provides the information.

4chan’s lawyers say they will ignore the fine, which they argue should not apply to them as a US-based organisation. “4chan will pay the fine when pigs fly,” said Preston Byrne, managing partner of Byrne & Storm, a law firm which represents the online messaging board.

The Online Safety Act, part of which came into force in July, obliges companies to identify and mitigate the risk of users encountering illegal content on their service. Ofcom says the law applies to websites with a significant number of UK users, regardless of where they are based.

Founded in 2003, 4chan has 98m monthly visits – 3m from the UK – according to data from Semrush. The site has been influential in creating internet memes and online movements, but has attracted controversy for its lax approach to content moderation. The QAnon conspiracy theory emerged on 4chan’s /pol/, has also been linked to real-world violence, including the 2019 shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The standoff between the forum and the regulator escalated in August, when 4chan and another US forum, Kiwi Farms, filed a lawsuit in US federal court against Ofcom. They argued Ofcom’s demands violate US constitutional free speech. The lawsuit claims Ofcom’s demands amount to “egregious violations of Americans’ civil rights.” Ofcom has not yet responded to the complaint.

4chan is not alone in resisting the law. A number of websites, including the right-wing social network Gab, have chosen to block UK users from accessing their services, instead of complying. Ofcom has issued provisional decisions against the file-sharing service Im.ge and pornography provider AVS Group for failures to respond to information requests.

The fine represents the first major test of the Online Safety Act’s reach. If 4chan continues to ignore Ofcom’s requests, the regulator could seek a court order to force UK internet service providers to block access to the site. A spokesperson for Ofcom said “sites that don’t comply and put people and children in the UK at risk can expect to face enforcement action”, but stopped short of threatening to ban the website.

The government would not comment on 4chan’s decision to ignore the fine, although it has previously said it supports Ofcom. “We fully back the regulator in taking action against all platforms that do not protect users from the darkest corners of the internet,” said Technology Secretary Liz Kendall earlier this month.

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