Social Media

4chan Sends Hilarious, Hamster-Filled Reminder That U.S. Companies Need Not Follow British Speech Regulations

"We are not in the mood to discuss the matter further, and have not been in the mood for 250 years."

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 3.23.2026 11:47 AM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL Add Reason to Google

Media Contact & Reprint Requests

(Credit: Preston Byrne (@prestonjbrne) via X)

It's not every day that I wish more U.S. tech platforms could be like 4chan. But the message board certainly has the right idea when it comes to the U.K. speech police.

Ofcom, the U.K.'s communications regulator, has fined 4chan £520,000 for failing to implement age verification procedures and other measures required by the U.K.'s Online Safety Act. The penalty includes "£450,000 for not having age checks in place to prevent children seeing porn on its site," per Ofcom.

You are reading Sex & Tech, from Elizabeth Nolan Brown. Get more of Elizabeth's sex, tech, bodily autonomy, law, and online culture coverage.

Company

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Email(Required)

SUBSCRIBE

Ofcom also cited 4chan for failing to provide Ofcom with an "illegal content risk assessment" and for not including a section in its terms of service "specifying how individuals are to be protected from illegal content."

4chan responded to Ofcom with an AI-generated picture of a giant hamster eating a peanut.

This was attached to a truly excellent email response to Ofcom from 4chan lawyer Preston Byrne (who also explains the hamster joke backstory here). "Thanks. As has been explained to your agency, ad nauseam, the United Kingdom lost the American Revolutionary War," the email starts. "We are not in the mood to discuss the matter further, and have not been in the mood for 250 years."

After the hamster image—Nigel J. Whiskerford "dressed up as Godzilla and holding an equally giant peanut"—the email goes on to state that 4chan "reserves all rights and waives none," including "the right to sue you again and/or to respond to future correspondence with an even larger rodent, such as a marmot."

This is exactly the attitude U.S. companies should be taking with foreign authorities intent on forcing their online speech regulations on........

© Reason.com