The notorious troll sites filed a lawsuit in U.S. federal court as part of a fight over the UK's Online Safety Act.

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4chan and Kiwi Farms sued the United Kingdom’s Office of Communications (Ofcom) over its age verification law in U.S. federal court Wednesday, fulfilling a promise it announced on August 23. In the lawsuit, 4chan and Kiwi Farms claim that threats and fines they have received from Ofcom “constitute foreign judgments that would restrict speech under U.S. law.”

Both entities say in the lawsuit that they are wholly based in the U.S. and that they do not have any operations in the United Kingdom and are therefore not subject to local laws. Ofcom’s attempts to fine and block 4chan and Kiwi Farms, and the lawsuit against Ofcom, highlight the messiness involved with trying to restrict access to specific websites or to force companies to comply with age verification laws.

  • TimLovesTech (AuDHD)(he/him)@badatbeing.socialEnglish
    3·
    5 days ago

    This story is a rollercoaster of emotions for me. For one it makes me feel icky to agree with either of these vile sites, but I also think the UK should have some power over cesspools on the Internet. The problem is the whole concept was never built with the idea of needing to moderate people around the globe that may have conflicting laws/regulations. And typically jurisdiction would decide whose laws take precedent, but a site can be hosted anywhere around the world and reach everyone. And without a physical presence in the UK, I don’t think we have a great way to deal with things like this law.

    A great example against the UK here is copyright law. If the US doesn’t like someone anywhere else downloading US works, they can’t just enforce US law by going and getting those individuals, they need to work with that country and either have some sort of agreement or go pound salt.

    • Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works
      4·
      5 days ago

      In theory the country themselves should be the ones to block access for their own residents, like how China attempts to do so.

      It shouldn’t be a requirement for the companies to bear the burden of verifying their users imo.

      • Obi@sopuli.xyz
        2·
        4 days ago

        I just assumed that would be the case and that websites that don’t comply would get blocked? Is that not the case? So they make a law they have no way of actually applying?

        • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
          3·
          4 days ago

          That would be the case if they had any interest in actually blocking the website. They don’t want the website blocked because they want the data collection going on about who’s actually accessing the website. The data collection is the point, they just use “think of the children” as the excuse.