Ofcom fines 4chan £20K and counting for violating UK's Online Safety Act • Hacker News Board

Re: Ofcom fines 4chan £20K and counting for violating UK's Online Safety Act

#81

Post by pqtyw » Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 5:40 PM UTC

sleepybrett wrote: post #77

alphazard wrote: post #74

What do they seek to accomplish here? There is strong precedent for the US defending the 1st amendment against foreign interests. No UK bureaucrats are going to make a career out of this. Going after a company that can defend itself and can't be intimidated, will prevent them from bluffing successfully against smaller companies, who could realistically be intimidated. If I were working at Ofcom, I would stay away fro…

[flagged]

Presumably that was a typo since it seemed like a pretty sane commend otherwise.

Re: Ofcom fines 4chan £20K and counting for violating UK's Online Safety Act

#82

Post by linuxftw » Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 5:41 PM UTC

foldr wrote: post #79

linuxftw wrote: post #41

Many people are saying this is symbolic and cannot be enforced. Unfortunately, that's just not true. Look at what happened to the founder of Telegram. Some jurisdiction decides you're violating their laws, all you need to do is catch a connecting flight or take a vacation on their soil or a place that will eagerly extradite, and you're a political prisoner. What happens if one of the officers of 4Chan or Gab is on a…

Enforcing bad legislation that was enacted through the democratic process doesn’t make a country a police state. It’s just the rule of law. That has always included the enforcement of bad laws as well as good ones.

The UK locks up political dissidents under draconian 'safety' laws.

Re: Ofcom fines 4chan £20K and counting for violating UK's Online Safety Act

#83

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 5:41 PM UTC

alphazard wrote: post #74

What do they seek to accomplish here? There is strong precedent for the US defending the 1st amendment against foreign interests. No UK bureaucrats are going to make a career out of this. Going after a company that can defend itself and can't be intimidated, will prevent them from bluffing successfully against smaller companies, who could realistically be intimidated. If I were working at Ofcom, I would stay away fro…

[deleted]

Re: Ofcom fines 4chan £20K and counting for violating UK's Online Safety Act

#84

Post by oceansky » Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 5:41 PM UTC

p10jkle wrote: post #68

pengaru wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It can stop the owners being able to travel to the UK or risk being detained. Big loss, that destination.

London is the third most visited city and Heathrow is the second most popular airport by international visitors. The prospect of being arrested upon arrival there might be a little annoying.

"We'll always have Paris."

Re: Ofcom fines 4chan £20K and counting for violating UK's Online Safety Act

#85

Post by SAI_Peregrinus » Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 5:43 PM UTC

pqtyw wrote: post #81

sleepybrett wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Presumably that was a typo since it seemed like a pretty sane commend otherwise.

Yes, I assume they meant "precedent".

Re: Ofcom fines 4chan £20K and counting for violating UK's Online Safety Act

#86

Post by pqtyw » Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 5:44 PM UTC

TimorousBestie wrote: post #55

gadders wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he is stuck, like the Prime Minister of France. He has a party that won't tolerate spending cuts of the required scale, and an economy that can't tolerate further tax raises. He also has the charisma of a wet sock, which doesn't help.

So another thirty years of Tory rule (or worse) because Labor did a dog that caught the car. Hurray.

Or Reform... considering that Conservatives are third in the polls currently.

If there were elections now according to the current projections Tories would get less seats than the Liberal Democrats.

Re: Ofcom fines 4chan £20K and counting for violating UK's Online Safety Act

#87

Post by foldr » Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 5:48 PM UTC

linuxftw wrote: post #82

foldr wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Enforcing bad legislation that was enacted through the democratic process doesn’t make a country a police state. It’s just the rule of law. That has always included the enforcement of bad laws as well as good ones.

The UK locks up political dissidents under draconian 'safety' laws.

You don’t refer to any specific cases so I can’t offer any specific response, but the key phrase is

> under ___ laws.

A police state is one where the police arrest whoever the government directs them to arrest (rather than enforcing the law). Keir Starmer is not phoning up Police chiefs to get people disappeared.

Re: Ofcom fines 4chan £20K and counting for violating UK's Online Safety Act

#88

Post by arghwhat » Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 5:49 PM UTC

stronglikedan wrote: post #63

arghwhat wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Threatening with prison or a fine of double digit millions of pounds doesn't seem very symbolic.

They didn't just threaten anything - they imposed the fine. Imposing a fine while knowing that it likely will never be collected is the very definition of "symbolic".

The threat of imprisonment if you don't pay the fine is the polar opposite of anything "symbolic". It puts individuals at significant personal risk should they ever make the mistake of traveling through the UK, in turn limiting their freedom of movement permanently even without being in prison.

Re: Ofcom fines 4chan £20K and counting for violating UK's Online Safety Act

#89

Post by alphazard » Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 5:52 PM UTC

foldr wrote: post #80

alphazard wrote: post #74

What do they seek to accomplish here? There is strong precedent for the US defending the 1st amendment against foreign interests. No UK bureaucrats are going to make a career out of this. Going after a company that can defend itself and can't be intimidated, will prevent them from bluffing successfully against smaller companies, who could realistically be intimidated. If I were working at Ofcom, I would stay away fro…

I think you’re overanalyzing it. They’re just enforcing the law. You and I may agree that it’s a bad law, but that doesn’t mean that the people in charge of enforcing it necessarily have complex and sinister motives.

I don't agree that wanting to further one's own career is complex or sinister. If the enforcement of laws wasn't aligned with career progress it would be bad for enforcement, including the laws that you and I want enforced.

Even if the goal is just enforcement, you would get more enforcement, collect more fines, if you didn't put your ability to actually collect fines into question. When 4chan successfully defends itself and the UK extracts no money, that will show US companies which would have been in doubt, that they can also defend themselves.

Re: Ofcom fines 4chan £20K and counting for violating UK's Online Safety Act

#90

Post by arghwhat » Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 5:53 PM UTC

general1465 wrote: post #40

arghwhat wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Threatening with prison or a fine of double digit millions of pounds doesn't seem very symbolic.

I mean Russia has fined Google 20 decillion USD. What is the point if you can't collect? Like me fining my neighbor 100 million Euro. He will laugh at me and tell me to get lost. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdxvnwkl5kgo

Are you likening the UK to Russia?

This is not a fictive fine, it's threats of imprisonment, and ignoring the whole thing means having to avoid travelling to or through the UK for life, and that's assuming the UK doesn't try to activate any sort of extradition agreements.

Even without going to prison, that's a permanent and quite significant theft of freedom of movement. If you ever travel abroad, you could end up accidentally booking a transfer through the UK.

No one ends up unintentionally transferring through Russia anytime soon. And likening the legal threats of a foreign nation to a joke from your neighbor makes no sense.