UK fines 4Chan over online safety compliance
The United Kingdom has slapped 4Chan with a £20,000 (around $26,000) fine in a bid to clamp down on platforms that are hindering Online Safety Act (OSA) investigations. UK telecoms regulator Ofcom says the fine was issued after the controversial social media site ignored “legally-binding information requests” related to global revenue and its illegal harms risk assessment.
Starting from tomorrow, 4Chan additionally faces a daily penalty of £100 (around $133) for either 60 days or until 4Chan complies with the information requests, up to a maximum of £6,000 (around $8,000). “Today sends a clear message that any service which flagrantly fails to engage with Ofcom and their duties under the Online Safety Act can expect to face robust enforcement action,” Ofcom enforcement director, Suzanne Cater, said in a statement. The investigation is still ongoing, and these mid-probe fines are significantly below the maximum £18 million (around $24 million) in penalties that can be enforced under the OSA.
Ofcom launched the OSA investigation into 4Chan in June, following complaints around the “potential for illegal content and activity” being hosted by the platform. 4Chan responded in August by filing a federal lawsuit against the UK government, arguing that Ofcom is overreaching its legal authority by trying to apply British law to companies based in the US.
The United Kingdom has slapped 4Chan with a £20,000 (around $26,000) fine in a bid to clamp down on platforms that are hindering Online Safety Act (OSA) investigations. UK telecoms regulator Ofcom says the fine was issued after the controversial social media site ignored “legally-binding information requests” related to global…
Recent Posts
- Canva launches Craft — its first image generation model, trained on human-designed templates
- The iPhone Duo should have been an iPad
- Meta is charging government and nonprofit pages to post links on Facebook
- Clayface director explains why [spoiler] doesn’t appear and that post-credits scene decision
- Feds want robotaxis to signal ‘I’m driving’ with cyan-colored lights
Archives
- October 2026
- September 2026
- August 2026
- July 2026
- June 2026
- May 2026
- April 2026
- March 2026
- February 2026
- January 2026
- December 2025
- November 2025
- October 2025
- September 2025
- August 2025
- July 2025
- June 2025
- May 2025
- April 2025
- March 2025
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023