NoBody
Fri, 20 Mar 2026 13:53:01 +0000

4Chan Sends Ofcom an AI Hamster Instead of £520K — And the FTC Backs Them

The UK regulator fined the internet’s most unhinged forum half a million quid. 4chan’s lawyer replied with a cartoon hamster. Then the Trump administration got involved.

£520,000 in fines. £500/day in penalties. Zero dollars paid. One hamster sent. And the FTC told Big Tech that obeying these foreign laws might actually break American ones.

Look, this is one of those stories where you read every sentence and think it can’t get weirder. It does.

🧩 Dumb Mode Dictionary (click for more details) 📰 What Happened (click for more details) 💰 The Money Trail (click for more details) 🗣️ The Trump Administration Enters (click for more details) ⚙️ What Can Ofcom Actually Do? (click for more details) 🔍 Why This Matters Beyond 4chan (click for more details)

Cool. The UK is fining American websites and getting hamster memes back. Now What the Hell Do We Do? ¯_(ツ)_/¯

🛡️ Sell Age Verification SaaS to Panicking Webmasters (click for more details) 📝 Start a Compliance Newsletter for Small Platform Operators (click for more details) 🔧 Build VPN Landing Pages Targeting UK Users (click for more details) 💼 Offer Legal Template Packs for Online Safety Act Compliance (click for more details) 🛠️ Follow-Up Actions (click for more details)

Quick Hits

Want… | Do…
Understand the law | Read Ofcom’s published codes of practice — free, public, surprisingly readable
Bag from the panic | White-label age verification tools for UK site operators before April 2
Track enforcement | Follow @Ofcom on X and Preston Byrne’s posts for the live drama
Protect your own site | Get your risk assessment and ToS updated before Ofcom looks your way
Access blocked sites | Set up a VPN now — not after the block. UK ISP blocking is an “on” switch, not gradual

A country that can’t reach you can still erase you from its internet — and the only thing standing between “ignored fine” and “blocked domain” is one court order and a slow Tuesday at Ofcom.

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