Comment Re:The Empire is dead. (Score 0) 117
Media regulator Ofcom said 4chan had not responded to its request for a copy of its illegal harms risk assessment nor a second request relating to its qualifying worldwide.
The fine is apparently because they won't provide the online equivalent of a building permit. I find myself ambivalent; the OSA is a bad piece of legislation and should be amended, but it's not unreasonable to expect foreign companies who serve content in one's country to follow the laws there. If they don't like it they're free to do as imgur did and make a token effort to block UK visitors.
4chan and Kiwi Farms filed a lawsuit in the United States against Ofcom in August, arguing that the threats and fines issued by the regulator "constitute foreign judgements that would restrict speech under U.S. law." The lawsuit claims that both entities are entirely based in the U.S., have no operations in the U.K., and therefore are not subject to its local laws.
This is a red herring. OFCOM isn't trying to restrict 4chan in the United States. They can serve whatever they want within the US.
The fine itself is also obviously also a purely performative act; I doubt that anyone at OFCOM seriously expects 4chan to comply or pay the fine*. I also doubt that 4chan being the first site to be fined is an accident.
* Just as 4chan and Kiwi Farms can't possibly expect to successfully sue a foreign government, in the US, for actions taken outside the US.
Oh, the irony. Perhaps that was the point.
