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Investigation into 4chan and its compliance with duties to protect its users

ofcom.org.uk

61–70 of 97 posts

Re: Investigation into 4chan and its compliance with duties to protect its users

#61
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Could you give some examples which refer to the activities you accuse him of? Examples of actual violations of the Constitution of the United States, that is, not just examples of him deciding things you happen to disagree with.

According to one of our new AI overlords:

Separation of Powers and Congressional Authority • Trump repeatedly challenged or ignored the constitutional boundaries between the executive branch and Congress. This includes refusing to comply with congressional subpoenas related to investigations and attempting to block the release of his financial records, which resulted in the Supreme Court reaffirming Congress’s investigative powers. • He has used executive orders to unilaterally override or undermine laws enacted by Congress, which the Constitution does not permit.

Use of Military on U.S. Soil • Trump turned to the military as a “personal police force” against American citizens, particularly in response to protests, which has been accused of violating both federal law and the Constitution’s protections for civil liberties.

War Powers Clause • He ordered military actions (e.g., bombing Iran) without congressional approval, contradicting the Constitution’s war powers clause that reserves the right to declare war exclusively to Congress.

First Amendment Violations • Trump’s actions targeting peaceful protesters, threatening lawmakers for their speech, and attempting to punish academic institutions and law firms for political reasons have been labeled unconstitutional violations of free speech and due process rights.

14th Amendment and Birthright Citizenship • His administration sought to deny citizenship to people of color born in the U.S., contrary to the clear language of the 14th Amendment, which guarantees birthright citizenship.

Punishing Political Enemies and Targeting Institutions • Trump issued executive orders and directed government agencies to retaliate against law firms and universities perceived as opponents, which experts say violates the equal protection and due process clauses.

Speech and Debate Clause • Attempts were made to investigate and potentially criminalize speech by Democratic lawmakers, threatening constitutional protections for congressional speech.

Power of the Purse • Trump encroached upon Congress’s constitutional “power of the purse” by redirecting funds without congressional approval, thus violating the separation of powers.

Re: Investigation into 4chan and its compliance with duties to protect its users

#63

Why do they think that organizations who operate completely outside of the UK, accept no money from UK citizens or otherwise do business there, fall within their jurisdiction? I think realistically all that could happen is they tell ISPs to block it.

They do accept money from UK citizens, you can buy a 4chan pass to skip the captcha. I've done so in the past.

A bagel shop in Manhattan also accepts money from UK citizens, but that doesn't mean it's subject to UK law.

Re: Investigation into 4chan and its compliance with duties to protect its users

#64
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Serving ads to UK users does not grant the UK enforcement jurisdiction over 4chan. They have no presence, assets, or agents in the UK. If the UK still attempts to issue a judgement contrary to the first amendment, the constitution in general, and/or US law, it will not be recognized by US courts. In short, the UK can kick rocks.

the UK could block access to 4chan, or block the ability for 4chan to sell ads in the UK

It's bad optics to build their own Hadrian's Firewall, so they are trying to bully foreign companies into compliance instead. If they want to go after the ad revenue, they would have to try to identify and prosecute the UK-based companies doing business with 4chan, and they will struggle to do that when they have no ability to subpoena 4chan for their business records.

Re: Investigation into 4chan and its compliance with duties to protect its users

#65
post #62

[flagged]

Why has this hysterical hyperbole become the norm when discussing the UK? It feels like a prolonged disinformation attack.

Which part is disinformation? Personally I find it a bit hilarious, that's about it.

I've lived in UK, originally from Eastern Europe and now live in NZ and been working and unfortunately following US politics for a bit so kinda interesting to see observe from outside.

Re: Investigation into 4chan and its compliance with duties to protect its users

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s funny. Their “Advertise” page explicitly mentions UK on demographics section (7% of users). Both Advertise and Rules pages explicitly mention local along with US laws. It looks like they actually do business in UK serving ads to UK users and thus should be subject to local laws themselves.

Serving ads to UK users does not grant the UK enforcement jurisdiction over 4chan. They have no presence, assets, or agents in the UK. If the UK still attempts to issue a judgement contrary to the first amendment, the constitution in general, and/or US law, it will not be recognized by US courts. In short, the UK can kick rocks.

Nobody in the world cares about US constitution or opinion of US courts. It is absolutely irrelevant. If American company does business somewhere and breaks local laws, that part of their business can be disrupted or shut down (by blocking traffic, restricting financial transactions to certain entities, blocking shipments), executives may be arrested on arrival, there may be secondary sanctions etc.

This is absolutely common practice happening everywhere. There is a firewall in every country. Think of malware servers that America blocks.

Re: Investigation into 4chan and its compliance with duties to protect its users

#67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s funny. Their “Advertise” page explicitly mentions UK on demographics section (7% of users). Both Advertise and Rules pages explicitly mention local along with US laws. It looks like they actually do business in UK serving ads to UK users and thus should be subject to local laws themselves.

If they want their assets, they will have to use U.S courts to get them and U.S courts will refuse to enforce British law that violates the first amendment. It's pretty simple actually. If they had assets in Britain, then they could get to them, but they don't.

They can just treat 4chan as malware server or a drug cartel. There exist sanction mechanisms against foreign entities that do not use local law enforcement in which case opinion of US courts will be irrelevant.

Re: Investigation into 4chan and its compliance with duties to protect its users

#68
post #25
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they tell ISPs to block it Seems likely. And then that won't work, and they'll tell ISPs to block VPN traffic too.

ISPs blocking it will mostly work, I think. Most people can't be bothered with a VPN so if 4chan is inaccessible they'll just read/watch something else instead.

Elon needs to release Starlink Freedom Edition. He should've bought 4chan rather than Twitter too lol.

Re: Investigation into 4chan and its compliance with duties to protect its users

#69
post #64
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the UK could block access to 4chan, or block the ability for 4chan to sell ads in the UK

It's bad optics to build their own Hadrian's Firewall, so they are trying to bully foreign companies into compliance instead. If they want to go after the ad revenue, they would have to try to identify and prosecute the UK-based companies doing business with 4chan, and they will struggle to do that when they have no ability to subpoena 4chan for their business records.

Such firewall exists everywhere, because courts can block access to various websites on different grounds (malware, copyright infringement etc) everywhere.

Re: Investigation into 4chan and its compliance with duties to protect its users

#70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do accept money from UK citizens, you can buy a 4chan pass to skip the captcha. I've done so in the past.

A bagel shop in Manhattan also accepts money from UK citizens, but that doesn't mean it's subject to UK law.

If that bagel shop will ship bagels to UK soil or accepting money from UK citizens who are currently in UK as 4chan does, it will be subject to UK laws regardless of whether it has legal presence, assets etc. This is not matter of jurisdiction as some of commenters here believe.

UK has limited enforcement options, of course, but it’s their sovereign right to prevent illegal activities and/or punish for them within their capabilities. This is why 4chan lawyers are asking for political response as if UK were a rogue American colony.

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