United Kingdom: Office of Communications imposed a penalty of GBP 20'000 on 4chan Community Support for failing to comply with two statutory information requests under Online Safety Act

On 13 October 2025, the Office of Communications (Ofcom) imposed a penalty of GBP 20'000 under Section 132 of the Online Safety Act 2023 against 4chan Community Support LLC for failing to comply with two statutory information requests. Ofcom determined that the provider breached its duty under Section 102(8)(a) of the Act on two separate occasions by not providing the required information. The penalty was issued in accordance with Ofcom’s Penalty Guidelines and directs 4chan to take immediate steps to comply with Section 102(8)(a). The provider must submit a written record of its illegal content risk assessment for 4chan and provide details of its qualifying worldwide revenue (QWR) as specified in the information requests. Should 4chan fail to comply, a daily penalty of GBP 100 will apply for up to 60 days or until full compliance is achieved. The ruling follows a provisional notice of contravention issued on 13 August 2025 under Section 130 of the Act, after Ofcom identified potential non-compliance with statutory duties concerning information disclosure and illegal content risk assessment.