Ofcom's CEO told MPs the UK may never collect its 4chan fine
A UK regulator issued orders to about 200 American platforms. Four refused, 4chan among them, and a US court has now hinted at why that works.
Dame Melanie Dawes told a Commons committee Ofcom would have to "accept that we won't be able to recover that money" if foreign courts block enforcement. The source is 4chan's own lawyer, so read it as an advocate's account.
A thread commenter adds the footnote: 4chan lost its suit on sovereign immunity, and the court's remarks were obiter dicta.
What Ofcom admitted
According to Preston Byrne, counsel for 4chan, Ofcom's chief executive told the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee that fines on foreign sites may be uncollectable. Byrne says Ofcom issued orders to about 200 US platforms and four refused. He expects Ofcom to ask Parliament for "interim business disruption measures" to block sites before enforcement, and backs US bills (GRANITE, HOMEFRONT) that would strip foreign regulators of sovereign immunity.
The US court dismissed 4chan's suit, but suggested that Ofcom would have to enforce any judgment in a US court, where, per precedent, foreign judgments that violate the Constitution are generally not enforced.
The lawyers' headline, corrected
"4chan actually lost its case in the US District Court on 15 September 2026… The judge's comments were obiter dicta observations that were not necessary to decide the case." — vr46, a Hamburg-based commenter
Maybe the fine was never the point
"Ofcom did not lose overall… I don't think Ofcom's purpose was ever to collect the fines either… They have the power to instruct ISPs to block domains and to me it seems more likely that is what they will do." — a Stanford CS commenter, speculating
Another commenter asked the less comfortable question: why try at all, if the court quote ("American courts generally decline to enforce foreign judgments that violate the United States Constitution") was predictable? Blocking at the ISP is the one tool the UK controls, and it is the one Byrne expects to see requested next.
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