A UK regulator fines 4chan for ignoring the requirements of the Internet Safety Act

Ofcom has slapped 4chan In the amount of 20,000 pounds sterling A fine of $26,700 for failure to comply with the Internet and Communications Regulatory Authority’s request for information under the Act UK Online Safety Act 2023. The regulator has issued an update on 11 of the investigations it opened after the first online safety laws became enforceable in March this year. 4chan apparently ignored her requests for a copy of the Unlawful Harms Risk Assessment and to provide information about its eligible worldwide revenue. This is Ofcom’s first fine under the new law, which is designed to stop children accessing harmful online content that has prompted sites like Reddit and X to establish age verification measures.

When the regulator launched its investigation into 4chan in June, it said it had received complaints about illegal content on the anonymous online board. It’s not entirely surprising that 4chan has refused to give information to the regulator about the risks of illegal content on its website: last August, the service I filed a lawsuit v. Ofcom, arguing that enforcement of the UK’s Internet Safety Law violates Americans’ freedom of expression. “This fine is a clear warning to those who fail to remove illegal content or protect children from harmful material.” He said Liz Kendall, UK Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology. The regulator is also imposing an additional penalty of £100 ($133) per day on 4chan until it complies with its requests for information.

Ofcom has announced the findings of other investigations too, such as finding “serious compliance concerns” with two file-sharing services that have now deployed an automated tool that can quickly detect and remove uploads containing child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Four other file-sharing services that were also under investigation for CSAM chose to block geo-access from UK IP addresses instead, so the regulator closed their cases.