The United Kingdom began enforcing the Online Safety Act in April, prompting regulator Ofcom to serve violation notices to 4chan, Gab, and Kiwi Farms and exposing them to multimillion-pound fines. Preston Byrne, a First Amendment lawyer for the sites, announced plans to sue Ofcom in U.S. federal court and formally requested U.S. government intervention. Byrne asked the Trump administration to invoke all diplomatic and legal levers available to shield the sites from the OSA's reach. The push frames these platforms, described as hotbeds of violence, harassment, and extremism, within a broader diplomatic effort to defend American online speech, including hate speech, from foreign regulation.
After the United Kingdom began enforcing its sweeping Online Safety Act in April, British regulator Ofcom served violation notices to three notorious sites: 4chan, Gab, and Kiwi Farms, each of which risked multimillion-dollar fines. Late last week, Preston Byrne, a First Amendment lawyer representing them, struck back. Byrne announced he would sue Ofcom in US federal court and added an unusual request. He called on the Trump administration "to invoke all diplomatic and legal levers available to the United States" to protect his clients from the OSA's reach.
Byrne's request could put a trio of sites known as hotbeds of violence, harassment, and extremism at the vanguard of the Trump administration's sweeping new diplomatic mandate: stop foreign countries from using their laws to stifle American speech - especially hate speech - on the internet.
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