UK regulators hit 4chan with paltry fine for failure to comply with the Online Safety Act

4chan

Following an investigation that started back in June, UK regulator Ofcom has issued 4chan with a fine for failure to comply with two requests for information under the controversial Online Safety Act.

Ofcom’s investigation had multiple threads, including looking into whether the site was protecting users from illegal content. After several months, only concerns about failing to respond to information requests were upheld. The fine? Just £20,000 – or a little over $26,500.

When Ofcom first announced its investigation, it proudly proclaimed that it could imposed fine of up to £18 million, a figure that makes the fine now being announced seem minuscule and meaningless. At the time, Ofcom said:

On 14 April 2025, Ofcom issued a formal information notice to the provider of the service 4chan requesting a copy of the record of its Illegal Content Risk Assessment, as part of our Risk Assessment Enforcement Programme. At the date of opening this investigation, no response has been received to the information notice. 

Ofcom’s investigation will examine whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that 4chan has failed, or is failing, to comply with its duty to respond accurately to an information notice sent under the Act, as well as its duty to complete and keep a record of its Illegal Content Risk Assessment. The investigation will also consider whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that 4chan has failed, or is failing, to comply with its duties to protect its users from illegal content under section 10.

Ofcom’s Online Safety Enforcement Guidance sets out how Ofcom will normally approach enforcement under the Act. This includes our approach to information gathering and analysis and the procedural steps we must take to fairly determine the outcome of the investigation.

Where we identify compliance failures, we can impose fines of up to £18 million or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue (whichever is greater). In the most serious cases of non-compliance, and where appropriate, given the risks of harm to individuals in the UK, we can seek a court order to require third parties to take action to disrupt the business of the provider. This may require third parties (such as providers of payment or advertising services, or Internet Service Providers) to withdraw services from, or block access to, a regulated service in the UK.

With the investigation now complete, Ofcom has provided an update. The regulator says:

In accordance with section 132 of the Online Safety Act 2023 (‘the Act’), we have today issued 4chan Community Support LLC (‘4chan’) with a Confirmation Decision in relation to its failure to comply with two statutory information requests.

Ofcom has determined that 4chan has breached its duty under section 102(8)(a) of the Act to comply with a statutory request for information, on two separate occasions.

We are imposing a fixed penalty of £20,000 on 4chan in respect of both breaches. This penalty was set having regard to our Penalty Guidelines.

In addition, 4chan is now required to take immediate steps to comply with section 102(8)(a) by providing the following:

  1. a copy of the written record of its illegal content risk assessment(s) in respect of 4chan.org as required by the first statutory information request; and
  2. information specified in the second statutory information request relating to its qualifying worldwide revenue (‘QWR’).

Should 4chan fail to comply, a daily rate penalty of £100 per day will be imposed starting from the day after the date of the Confirmation Decision for either 60 days or until 4chan provides Ofcom with the information outlined above (whichever is sooner).

A non-confidential version of the Confirmation Decision will be published shortly.

Image credit: Ralf Liebhold / Dreamstime.com

Why Trust Us



At BetaNews.com, we don't just report the news: We live it. Our team of tech-savvy writers is dedicated to bringing you breaking news, in-depth analysis, and trustworthy reviews across the digital landscape.

BetaNews, your source for breaking tech news, reviews, and in-depth reporting since 1998.

© 1998-2025 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. About Us - Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy - Sitemap.