4chan's attorney Preston Byrne responded to the UK's £520,000 Ofcom fine under the Online Safety Act by submitting a picture of a hamster as his official legal reply. When UK regulators escalated with a larger fine, Byrne sent back a picture of a bigger hamster — this one dressed as Godzilla and formally named Nigel J. Whiskerford.

Byrne's actual legal filing included the line: "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 argued that 4chan is protected by the First Amendment and has zero obligation to comply with British online safety regulations.

Ofcom has issued nearly £5.5 million in total fines to tech companies under the new law. They've collected £55,000 — from one company. 4chan has paid zero pounds.

Byrne told LBC that the UK government "doesn't understand the internet" and gave Ofcom an "impossible task" by trying to enforce British rules on US-based platforms. He stated bluntly: "The UK just isn't getting the memo that the United States has a different system and we do things in a different way." He claims Parliament fundamentally misunderstood how the internet operates when drafting the legislation.

The Online Safety Act — which took eight years to write — requires platforms to implement age verification and other safety measures. Signal threatened to leave the UK market over the law's requirements. 4chan sent a rodent in a costume.

The UK government is now announcing plans to ban social media for users under 16, considering overnight curfews for 16 and 17-year-olds, planning mandatory phone scanning, and attempting to regulate AI chatbots. Ofcom is tasked with enforcing all of it.

Nigel J. Whiskerford remains unimpressed.

SOURCE: https://x.com/cyber_razz/status/2067602189774705096 SOURCE (mirror): https://xcancel.com/cyber_razz/status/2067602189774705096