Controversial online forum 4Chan has been fined £520,000 by UK regulator Ofcom for failing to protect children from pornography and illegal content.
The US-based platform must rectify its failings by 2 April or face escalating daily penalties.
The site has been fined £450,000 for lacking effective age verification to stop children seeing pornography, with a £500 daily penalty if not met.
Further fines include £50,000 for not assessing illegal material risk and £20,000 for unclear user protection terms.
These also require resolution by 2 April, or incur daily penalties of £200 and £100 respectively.
“Companies – wherever they’re based – are not allowed to sell unsafe toys to children in the UK. And society has long protected youngsters from things like alcohol, smoking and gambling. The digital world should be no different,” Suzanne Cater, Ofcom’s director of enforcement, said.
“The UK is setting new standards for online safety. Age checks and risk assessments are cornerstones of our laws, and we’ll take robust enforcement action against firms that fall short.”
It marks the latest Ofcom fine for 4Chan as the regulator steps up pressure on the US firm to meet its online safety rules.
Ofcom hit the group with a £20,000 penalty in October for ignoring requests to share information about the risk of illegal content on its platform, which rose to £26,000 after 4Chan still failed to comply within 60 days.
4Chan was not immediately available for comment.
New online safety protections for children and adults came into force on 25 July 2025 under the UK’s Online Safety Act, which puts new duties on platforms to take down illegal and harmful content.
In August, 4Chan launched a legal case against Ofcom in the US over claims it attempted to “censor” the website.
In a legal complaint, representatives for the website said the Online Safety Act was being used to “target the free speech rights of American citizens” and the lawsuit aimed to “restrain Ofcom’s conduct and its continuing egregious violations of Americans’ civil rights”.
It comes after the regulator began an investigation into 4Chan in June last year following complaints about illegal activity on the site.
Ofcom said any service with links to the UK has duties to protect British users under the new rules, regardless of where in the world it is based.
It has submitted its motion to have the case dismissed in the US.
4Chan has still not paid the £26,000 in penalties levied by Ofcom from last October and will have 28 days to pay the latest fines.
If it does not, Ofcom can seek to recover the debt through the courts.
“Where appropriate, if a provider fails to comply with its safety duties, we can also seek a court order for ‘business disruption measures’, such as requiring payment providers or advertisers to withdraw their services from a platform, or requiring internet service providers to block a site in the UK,” Ofcom added.
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