4chan launches legal action against Ofcom in US

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyjq40vjl7o

32•01-_-•5mo ago

Comments

yesco•5mo ago

It would be very surprising if they lost on this, but I question what exactly winning would truly accomplish? The concept of a foreign legal enforcement agency appearing in a US court seems very strange to me.

HillRat•5mo ago

Not gonna spend PACERbux on this to find out, but not sure how they’re arguing there’s an actual case or controversy to rule on, since no one’s trying to domesticate a judgment against them in the US. This is just an attempt to preemptively weaponize the US courts against the UK government, good chance it gets bounced for lack of jurisdiction.

cyanydeez•5mo ago

Better chance Mississippi bans them.

nkurz•5mo ago

The complaint is available free and in full here: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71209929/4chan-communit...

broken-kebab•5mo ago

Foreign gov't agency can still create them a bunch of problems, I think, even if not directly in the US. So they want to bring this case into political dimension. If succeeded it would mean UK harasses US entity on American soil for exercising constitutional rights as proven legally. In turn it would create grounds to engage US State Dept into the affair.

stubish•5mo ago

A US company located in the US protected by the US government and complying with US and only laws. Which would mean, when viewed in another country, they are exporting? And need to be paying their tariffs on all the ads they are exporting and views and clicks they are importing (I think we can assume the content is of zero value)?

_kulang•5mo ago

Been waiting for the idea that Microsoft Exchange or GSuite are exports to suddenly appear in the White House

seanhunter•5mo ago

Whatever the rights and wrongs of this case, the US has taken legal action against UK internet companies which were fully compliant with UK laws, specifically related to online gambling. So what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander also.[1]

[1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5333850.stm (link changed to something where the story isn’t behind a paywall)

chatmasta•5mo ago

I’m surprised they teamed up with the Kiwi Farms admins as plaintiffs in this lawsuit. Neither of these companies have an abundance of goodwill, but at least 4chan has a more “mainstream” (memestream?) reputation. Kiwi Farms on the other hand, is either unknown or generally disreputable. And anyone who googles them will not find favorable coverage.

I suspect they’ll win this case in the US, maybe triggering some JD Vance lecture to the UK. The outcome will be mostly meaningless, but even a political outcome is less likely with the Kiwi Farms participation. That’s a bad move on all fronts IMO.

cyanydeez•5mo ago

No. They dont have better credentials or reputation.

Youre remembering that specific time in your life when being edgy was like a drug. Many got hooked, many grew up.

But no one looks at 4chan like its more than /b/ or /pol/ ourside its walls.

chatmasta•5mo ago

No, I'm comparing 4chan to Kiwi Farms. Neither of them have positive reputations. But between the two of them, Kiwi Farms is clearly worse, if only because it's more fringe and has no "base" of support. There is a large cohort of people who are not very familiar with 4chan but will support it philosophically based on right-leaning tribalism and its reputation as a bastion of free speech. Nobody knows Kiwi Farms and anyone who looks them up will find little redeemable about them.

All I'm saying is that if, for example, 4chan has 50% probability of mustering support from the political right, then Kiwi Farms has 25%. And together they have less chance than 4chan would have by itself.

krapp•5mo ago

Kiwifarms definitely had a base of support. Go look up one of the threads about Kiwifarms being taken down. The same free speech absolutists who supported 4chan supported it as well.

chatmasta•5mo ago

They have a base in the terminally online free speech absolutists. The base for 4chan will be much wider, since there's a bunch of MAGA boomers who have never/barely used it but associate it with their political faction.

wilde•5mo ago

It’s rather saddening to watch the death of the global internet. China was really ahead of the game I suppose.

chii•5mo ago

china has shown a model that looks good to the increasingly authoritarian gov'ts in the west.

And as netizens, we need to be fighting back while there's still power vested in us. Cannot wait until the hammer falls (or the curtain drops or what have you).

ChrisArchitect•5mo ago

[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45043267

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4chan launches legal action against Ofcom in US

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