It’s not every day that I wish more American tech platforms were like 4chan. But when it comes to the UK speech police, message boards certainly have the right idea.
Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, fined 4chan £520,000 for failing to implement age verification procedures and other measures required by the UK’s Online Safety Act. According to Ofcom, penalties include “£450,000 for failing to carry out age checks to prevent children from viewing pornographic content on its website”.
Ofcom also noted that 4chan failed to provide Ofcom with an “illegal content risk assessment” and failed to include a section in its terms of service that “specifies how individuals are protected from illegal content.”
4chan responded to Ofcom with an AI-generated image of a giant hamster eating peanuts.
This is attached to an excellent email response to Ofcom from 4chan lawyer Preston Byrne (who also explains the backstory of the hamster joke here ). “Thank you. As has been explained to your agency, DisgustingBritain lost the American War of Independence,” the email began. “We are in no mood to discuss the matter further and have not been in the mood for 250 years. “
Following the hamster image — Nigel J. Weskerford “dressed as Godzilla, holding an equally giant peanut” — the email went on to note that 4chan “reserves all rights without waiving any rights,” including the “right to sue you again and/or respond to future communications with larger rodents such as prairie dogs.”
This is exactly the attitude American companies should take toward foreign authorities seeking to impose their online speech regulations on the rest of us.
US companies such as 4chan do not have headquarters or assets in the UK and are not required to comply with UK internet laws.
Nico Perrino, executive vice president of the Foundation for Personal Rights and Expression, wrote that 4chan’s “only content regulator is the First Amendment.” “The British could not colonize American companies operating outside the United States.”
As Byrne posted on Britain’s “2023 laws do not override America’s 250 years of independence”.
Suzanne Cater, Ofcom’s director of enforcement, told the BBC: “The UK is setting new standards for cyber security” and will take “robust enforcement action against companies that do not meet the standards”. She said: “No matter where the company is located, the sale of unsafe toys to British children will not be allowed. Society has a long history of protecting young people from things like alcohol, smoking and gambling.”
The UK has a legal right to try to protect children from anything they like within its borders. If it believes 4chan is dangerous, it could block UK residents from accessing 4chan, for example by asking their internet service provider to block access.
But as Perino points out, it cannot penalize “an American publisher with no assets in the UK” for not complying with British regulations. It cannot decide that the way it bans children from participating in certain online expressions must be the way the world does.
Alas, 4chan is not the only company facing such attempts by Ofcom to regulate global speech. “British regulators have been quietly pressuring U.S. companies to comply with their orders, sparking the outrage of a small but tenacious coalition of U.S. lawmakers and free speech lawyers,” reasonMegan O’Rourke reports in January.
O’Rourke noted that Byrne (who also represents Gab.com, Kiwi Farms and Personal Autonomy LLC) is drafting model legislation to “allow U.S. companies and individuals to sue foreign governments that seek to censor Americans.”
Most recently, Byrne has been helping to draft the UK Free Speech Act 2026 as a model bill that MPs could adopt.
in the news
A California police officer has been criminally charged for allegedly taking money and sex bribes from the sex trade. Officer Benjamin Yarbrough of the Hayward Police Department faces one count of bribery, a felony. The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office took over the investigation after the Hayward Police Department ignored the investigation because of the chief’s “familial ties” to Yarbrough.
The matter has largely been framed as an issue of police corruption. But it also shows how criminalizing prostitution can make it easier for police to exploit and abuse sex workers. If you don’t sleep with the police, the police can throw you in jail. Is this really a free exchange of sex for protection?
mercury information Report:
According to a probable cause statement, on April 2, 2025, Yarbrough accepted sexual favors and a $1,000 bribe in response to extorting Yangiong Xiong “by implicit threats to arrest him or to interfere with his current or future official duties as a police officer by providing protection, investigating competitors, or providing intelligence regarding law enforcement activities.”
The district attorney’s office launched an investigation after San Jose police arrested Xiong in a separate case and discovered that Yarbrough allegedly had regular contact with her.
The statement said Yarbrough used his work and personal cellphones “to arrange personal sex dates, receive free sexual services and receive a further $1,000 after identifying himself as a friendly police officer who wanted to ensure the safety of the operation.”
on substack
“The link between social media use and adolescent mental health is a function of other factors.” Chris Ferguson, posted in current psychologyexplains the results in a new post on his substack Grimoire Manor:
In a recent peer-reviewed paper, I confirmed what many have said: any weak correlation between time spent on social media and teen mental health is due to “third” variables. In other words, young people who experience real-life stress may turn to social media more as a compensatory mechanism rather than causing these mental health problems.
I analyzed a sample of thousands of young people in the UK from the BrainWaves dataset (my sincere thanks to the folks at BrainWaves for providing me with access). This includes data on time spent on social media each day and a number of outcomes related to mental health (depression and anxiety, mental health, quality of life, self-esteem, social phobia1, and friendships and other activities).
More here.
More sex and technology
• What is included in Trump’s new “National Artificial Intelligence Legislative Framework”? reasonJack Nicastro took a look.
• Data on Australia’s ban on social media for under-16s shows the law has “almost no effect”, says Mike Masnick. technical dirt. “The decline in usage is only slightly larger than the normal seasonal declines that occur every year. In other words, the ‘world-first’ ban achieves roughly the same effect as the end of the summer.” Masnick said it was worse than useless because “the ban chose for Loopholes and filtering be opposed to resourceful. “
• JD Tuccille reports on last week’s U.S. Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Section 230.
• Halter’s AI-powered cattle collar reportedly “creates virtual fencing for cattle, allowing farmers to monitor the animal’s location and health metrics through an app” Bloomberg. “Its collar is solar-powered and connects to a farmer’s phone, allowing them to manage their pasture remotely – for example, ranchers can use the collar’s vibrations and audio cues to herd cows.”
• According to Spotify’s self-reported data, “more than 13,800 artists earned at least $100,000 from the site” in 2025.
• Meet the Alabama gubernatorial candidate who wants to “legalize sex shops,” “make Montgomery a strip club town,” and “put prayer back in schools.”
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