Ofcom admits it may never collect 4chan’s fines after AI hamster trolling

Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes told the UK Parliament's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee on October 20 that the regulator may never recover fines from companies based outside the UK, saying "there will be a point at which we have to accept that we won't be able to recover that money" if foreign courts intervene. Dawes said Ofcom has issued 11 online safety fines since March 2025, of which only two have been paid and nine remain unpaid, amid its year-long Online Safety Act enforcement against US-based 4chan, which was fined hundreds of thousands of pounds and responded with AI-generated hamster images. 4chan lawyer Preston Byrne called the remarks a concession of defeat, citing a September ruling from the US District Court for the District of Columbia indicating American courts generally decline to enforce foreign judgments that violate the US Constitution.

Ofcom has admitted it may be unable to recover online safety fines from companies based outside the UK, prompting 4chan’s lawyer https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/4chan-trolls-uk-goverment-with-another-ai-hamster-as-fines-hit-800k-3382516/ to claim the regulator has effectively conceded defeat in its dispute with the forum. The UK regulator has spent more than a year pursuing 4chan under the country’s Online Safety Act. The site was fined hundreds of thousands of pounds for allegedly failing to comply with requirements including age verification, illegal-content risk assessments and information requests. 4chan repeatedly mocked the regulator’s demands with AI-generated hamster images, while its lawyer Preston Byrne argued that Ofcom had no practical way to enforce its penalties against a US-based company with no UK assets. Ofcom admits foreign courts could block its fines During a hearing before the UK Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee on October 20, Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes was asked about the regulator’s ability to recover unpaid fines from companies outside the country. “If foreign courts decide to… try and get in our way, there will be a point at which we have to accept that we won’t be able to recover that money,” Dawes told MPs https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/ofcom-tech-firms-fine-mps-5Hjdk9J 2 . Dawes said Ofcom had issued 11 online safety fines since March 2025. Only two had been paid, while nine remained unpaid. She added that the regulator would continue pursuing the money “as far as we can.” Although Dawes did not specifically name 4chan during the hearing, the comments appear to address the central problem in Ofcom’s case against the forum: the regulator can issue fines in the UK, but collecting them from a US-based company would likely require action through American courts. 4chan lawyer says Ofcom has conceded defeat Writing on his website, Byrne described Dawes’ comments as an admission that Ofcom’s enforcement efforts had failed. “Insofar as a political organization like Ofcom is even capable of admitting defeat, it did so in the 4chan enforcement today,” Byrne https://prestonbyrne.com/2026/10/20/ofcom-concedes-defeat/ wrote. Byrne pointed to a September ruling from the US District Court for the District of Columbia, which dismissed 4chan’s lawsuit against Ofcom on jurisdictional grounds. However, the court also indicated that 4chan could seek protection from American courts if Ofcom attempted to enforce a judgment in the United States. The judge wrote that American courts “generally decline to enforce foreign judgments that violate the United States Constitution https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/district-of-columbia/dcdce/1%3A2025cv02880/284218/15/ ” and noted that foreign penal judgments may not have to be enforced at all. Byrne said the ruling gave Ofcom “a very chilly reception” if it attempted to collect the fines in the US, adding: “Thus ends that case, for all practical purposes.” Ofcom could still try to block 4chan in the UK The regulator’s comments do not cancel 4chan’s fines, and Ofcom has not publicly said that it is abandoning its enforcement action. Byrne claimed the agency could instead return to Parliament to request new powers allowing it to impose “interim business disruption measures” against foreign websites. Those measures could potentially include blocking access to 4chan through UK internet service providers. “Ofcom has signaled it intends to continue persecuting Americans,” Byrne wrote, while arguing that any attempt to block 4chan would affect UK users and networks rather than the forum’s US operations. The dispute began after Ofcom investigated 4chan under the Online Safety Act and issued a series of penalties. The forum’s responses became a viral sideshow, with Byrne repeatedly replying to the regulator using increasingly absurd AI-generated hamster artwork. For now, Ofcom appears able to continue seeking payment, but its chief executive has acknowledged that foreign courts may ultimately prevent it from recovering the money. 4chan, meanwhile, is still operating and has yet to pay the fines.