America expects its citizens abroad to file taxes, and it strong-armed its allies banking systems into compliance nightmares to ensure extra-territorial enforcement of American laws.
If America wants to pressure countries over their extra-territorial enforcement of censorship laws it should repeal its taxation requirements of Americans not living in America.
As is often the case, important defense mechanisms feel awful when they arise in the course of the worst people defending the worst people. They're still important defense mechanisms, and the UK's badly misnamed "Online Safety Act" (which will make people less safe) needs to die and never come back. But still, ugh.
I believe they're talking about 4Chan. There's a timeline linked in the article, but tldr this Ofcom (isp I guess?) has been trying to force 4chan to use age verification on all visitors in compliance with UK law, even though 4chan is based in the US.
> 12/4/2025: Ofcom writes to 4chan again, claiming it is “expanding its investigation” into the site for not age-verifying its users. Ofcom explains that although it is “a UK-based regulator… that does not mean the rules do not apply to sites based abroad.”
> Ofcom (isp I guess?) has been trying to force 4chan to use age verification on all visitors in compliance with UK law,
All? I think not.
"The Act only requires that services take action to protect users in the UK - it does not require them to protect users anywhere else in the world. The measures that Ofcom recommends providers take to comply with their duties only relate to the design or operation of the service in the UK or as it affects UK users."
I'm confused as to why the State Department would confirm Congress was going to introduce or pass legislation.
They're not exactly involved in the process.
America expects its citizens abroad to file taxes, and it strong-armed its allies banking systems into compliance nightmares to ensure extra-territorial enforcement of American laws.
If America wants to pressure countries over their extra-territorial enforcement of censorship laws it should repeal its taxation requirements of Americans not living in America.
That analogy would make sense if Ofcom was proposing to enforce UK rules only on UK citizens living in the US.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartbreaking:_The_Worst_Perso...
As is often the case, important defense mechanisms feel awful when they arise in the course of the worst people defending the worst people. They're still important defense mechanisms, and the UK's badly misnamed "Online Safety Act" (which will make people less safe) needs to die and never come back. But still, ugh.
What in the sovereignty?
> Ofcom’s censorship of Americans in America
Really? Where and when?
I believe they're talking about 4Chan. There's a timeline linked in the article, but tldr this Ofcom (isp I guess?) has been trying to force 4chan to use age verification on all visitors in compliance with UK law, even though 4chan is based in the US.
> 12/4/2025: Ofcom writes to 4chan again, claiming it is “expanding its investigation” into the site for not age-verifying its users. Ofcom explains that although it is “a UK-based regulator… that does not mean the rules do not apply to sites based abroad.”
> Ofcom (isp I guess?) has been trying to force 4chan to use age verification on all visitors in compliance with UK law,
All? I think not.
"The Act only requires that services take action to protect users in the UK - it does not require them to protect users anywhere else in the world. The measures that Ofcom recommends providers take to comply with their duties only relate to the design or operation of the service in the UK or as it affects UK users."
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safety/illegal-and-harmful-c...