ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

Re: Statement Regarding Ofcom's Reported Provisional Notice - 4chan Community Support LLC

Byrne & Storm, P.C. ( @ByrneStorm ) and Coleman Law, P.C. ( @RonColeman ) represent 4chan Community Support LLC ("4chan").

According to press reports, the U.K. Office of Communications ("Ofcom") has issued a provisional notice under the Online Safety Act alleging a contravention by 4chan and indicating an intention to impose a penalty of £20,000, plus daily penalties thereafter.

4chan is a United States company, incorporated in Delaware, with no establishment, assets, or operations in the United Kingdom. Any attempt to impose or enforce a penalty against 4chan will be resisted in U.S. federal court.

American businesses do not surrender their First Amendment rights because a foreign bureaucrat sends them an e-mail. Under settled principles of U.S. law, American courts will not enforce foreign penal fines or censorship codes.

If necessary, we will seek appropriate relief in U.S. federal court to confirm these principles.

United States federal authorities have been briefed on this matter.

The Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, was reportedly warned by the White House to cease targeting Americans with U.K. censorship codes (according to reporting in the Telegraph on July 30th).

Despite these warnings, Ofcom continues its illegal campaign of harassment against American technology firms. A political solution to this matter is urgently required and that solution must come from the highest levels of American government.

We call on the Trump Administration to invoke all diplomatic and legal levers available to the United States to protect American companies from extraterritorial censorship mandates.

Our client reserves all rights.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5763261&forum_id=2/#49191540)

https://prestonbyrne.com/2025/10/16/the-ofcom-files/

The Ofcom Files

Posted on October 16, 2025 by prestonbyrne

Below is relevant enforcement correspondence sent by the UK Office of Communications, known by the Orwellian portmanteau “Ofcom,” to my client, 4chan, in relation to its Online Safety Act fines, disclosed publicly in the interests of transparency, and because the First Amendment allows it. Civil rights are like non-rollover vacation days: use ’em or lose ’em.

I represent 4chan, pro bono, in its U.S. federal lawsuit against Ofcom, together with my co-counsel Ron Coleman.

4chan operates its business entirely lawfully in the United States with exactly zero regulatory paperwork required. Zero as in none. All of the paperwork called for in these letters is what the UK expects every Internet company in the world that hasn’t geo-blocked the entire island to maintain and file. Every demand, it expects everyone to comply with.

Every threat and penalty – including threats of multi-year prison terms – contained in these letters pertains to speech and conduct which is constitutionally protected in the United States.

The UK wants to make operating a publishing platform as complicated, from a regulatory perspective, as running a complex financial institution like a bank. With requirements as insane as these, it is no surprise that the country’s tech industry is anemic.

In these documents, in particular the fining decision issued on Monday, October 13th, 2025, the UK’s Internet regulator claims that its powers have supremacy over the U.S. Constitution, including the First Amendment, and U.S. law for U.S. companies and citizens engaged in constitutionally protected speech and conduct occurring exclusively on U.S. soil.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5763261&forum_id=2/#49355576)