Roll On Friday
A lawyer acting for the 4chan discussion board has mocked Ofcom’s attempt to fine his client by replying with an AI-generated cartoon of a giant hamster dressed as Godzilla.
Ofcom fined the edgy forum £520,000 for breaching the UK’s Online Safety Act 2023. It said the company behind the website had failed to carry out an illegal content risk assessment, failed to declare in its terms of service how it would protect users from illegal content, and hadn’t introduced age verification measures to protect children.
The notice from Ofcom Enforcement pointed out that 4chan had not made any “substantive representations” (other than to mock it) and said it was adding £200 a day to the fine.
4chan’s lawyer, Preston Byrne, replied that “As has been explained to your agency, ad nauseam, the United Kingdom lost the American Revolutionary War. We are not in the mood to discuss the matter further, and have not been in the mood for 250 years”.
He said 4chan responded to its previous fine with a hamster joke, but as “you have now sent my client a giant fine, a fine so large that Mr. Whiskers’ enclosure is not big enough to contain it, we will need to send the fine to Mr. Whiskers’ giant hamster cousin, Nigel J. Whiskerford”.
“Here’s a picture of Nigel in Tokyo, dressed up as Godzilla and holding an equally giant peanut”, continued the lawyer. “Isn’t he just the cutest?”
Byrne said his client reserved the right “to respond to future correspondence with an even larger rodent, such as a marmot”.
“Or, maybe, you could just stop sending Americans stupid letters and acknowledge the sovereignty of the United States.”
Suzanne Cater, Director of Enforcement at Ofcom, said in a statement, “Companies – wherever they’re based – are not allowed to sell unsafe toys to children in the UK. And society has long protected youngsters from things like alcohol, smoking and gambling. The digital world should be no different”.
Read more at
https://www.rollonfriday.com/news-content/lawyer-mocks-ofcoms-big-fine-bigger-hamster
