Ofcom is no match for the trolls of 4chan

Although the days are long gone when Britain could act as the world’s policeman, no one at Ofcom seems to have got the memo. Ever since enforcement of the wretched Online Safety Act was entrusted to it, the UK’s telecommunications regulator has been making itself an unholy nuisance on the world stage.

Now it’s the turn of bulletin-board site 4chan to face Ofcom’s wrath. 4chan was formally warned earlier this month that it had been placed under investigation for possible breaches of the UK’s Online Safety Act, following complaints that it is hosting potentially illegal content. Ofcom has also demanded to see 4chan’s ‘risk-assessment records’. The UK regulator can fine platforms like 4chan £18 million, or 10 per cent of their turnover, if they refuse ‘compliance with the rules’.

No one would say 4chan is a pleasant platform. Many of those who post on it are a motley bunch of thugs, misfits, pornographers and loud-mouthed far-rightists. Much of what they post is also illegal under UK law. But there’s one difficulty for Ofcom here: the site is American, with its servers in California.

This means that most of the vile things posted on 4chan are protected by the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech. Aside from the fact that some people in the UK visit the site, it has no connection with this country. Any material posted on there that breaches US law (ie, is not merely ‘offensive’) is surely the business of the American authorities. As such, it’s a racing certainty that 4chan will say, quite correctly, that what it puts on its US servers is none of Ofcom’s business, and that the British censors can go knit.

Sadly, this is not the first time Ofcom has tried to stick its oar into the affairs of a foreign platform. Earlier this year, it wrote letters to American forums Gab and Kiwifarms, also popular among far-right activists, reminding them of their supposed duties under the UK’s Online Safety Act. Gab unceremoniously told it to shove off. Kiwifarms went further. UK-based surfers are redirected to a special page, which contains a scan of Ofcom’s pompous letter and brands the UK a surveillance state.

Why is Ofcom repeatedly wasting its time and taxpayers’ money on telling foreign companies what they can publish on their websites? After all, this posturing isn’t merely futile. It is also damaging the reputation of the UK. No government should punish foreigners abroad for doing something that is lawful in their own country. The US already sees the UK as a dangerous backslider when it comes to free speech – an impression that Ofcom is doing its best to reinforce.

Like so many British quangos, Ofcom has grown far too big for its boots. It is behaving like an imperial power, with designs to become the world’s censor. Someone needs to pull it into line – or, better yet, abolish it.

Andrew Tettenborn is a professor of commercial law and a former Cambridge admissions officer.