Overview

• 4chan and Kiwi Farms filed a joint complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking an injunction against Ofcom’s actions.
• Ofcom says services with links to the UK have duties to protect UK users regardless of where they are based and confirms it is aware of the lawsuit.
• Regulatory steps include a June probe into 4chan and an Aug. 13 provisional decision with £20,000 per day penalties for noncompliance.
• The complaint argues both forums are wholly U.S.-based with no UK operations and claims Ofcom’s threats and fines function as foreign judgments limiting protected speech.
• The Online Safety Act imposes age‑verification and other duties, with potential fines up to £18 million or 10% of qualifying revenue and possible blocking for noncompliant sites.