Your Daily Broadsheet

Ofcom writes:

Since we opened our investigation into 4chan Community Support LLC ('4chan') and its compliance with its duties to protect users from illegal content, new duties to protect children under the Online Safety Act 2023 ('the Act') 203 the Protection of Children duties - have come into effect.

Such duties require providers of regulated user-to-user services, which are likely to accessed by children, to use proportionate systems and processes which are designed to effectively reduce the risk of harm to children from content available on their site and to prevent children from encountering certain types of harmful content 203 known as Primary Priority Content - altogether. In particular, section 12 of the Act requires providers of services that fall under Part 3 of the Act, and allow one or more kinds of Primary Priority Content (including pornographic content), to use highly effective age verification or age estimation (or both) to prevent children from encountering that kind of content where identified on the service.

Ofcom is therefore expanding this investigation to include consideration of whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that 4chan has failed, or is failing, to comply with its duties under section 12 of the Act.

Thailand has temporarily lifted a decades-old ban on the sale of alcoholic drinks in the afternoons as it seeks to boost tourism.

Liquor stores, restaurants and other accredited establishments can now sell beer, wine and spirits from 14:00 to 17:00 as part of a six-month trial.

The move comes just days ahead of Christmas and the New Year holiday, both peak seasons for tourist arrivals.

Alcohol sales in the country are now allowed from 11:00 to midnight for the next 180 days while a committee studies its impact.

The impetus for change started when it was announced that drinkers rather than bar owners would be punished for out of hours drinking. The fine was set at 20,00 Baht (£235). It was feared that tourists would stay away rather than risk being arrested for crimes they couldn't possibly be expected to know the details of. Its a nightmare to tangle with the police in Thailand as there is a significant risk of being taken to the cleaners by corrupt people in the law enforcement system.

Graham Linehan Cleared After Heathrow Arrest as CPS Drops Case After Free Speech Controversy

The charges may be dropped but the arrest leaves behind a chilling portrait of a country increasingly turning against free speech.

Graham Linehan, the Irish writer best known for Father Ted and The IT Crowd , says police have now confirmed he will face no further action following his controversial arrest at Heathrow Airport last month. He was accused of using social media to incite violence, a claim now dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service.

Linehans arrest became a flashpoint in a growing concern over the decline of free speech in modern Britain. The image of an airport surrounded by armed officers confronting a comedy writer for tweets struck many as absurd, even dystopian.

He credited the Free Speech Union for its support and vowed to hold the police accountable for what is only the latest attempt to silence and suppress gender critical voices on behalf of dangerous and disturbed men

Ofcom has explained:

Ofcom has determined that 4chan has breached its duty under section 102(8)(a) of the Act to comply with a statutory request for information, on two separate occasions.

We are imposing a fixed penalty of £20,000 on 4chan in respect of both breaches. This penalty was set having regard to our Penalty Guidelines.

In addition, 4chan is now required to take immediate steps to comply with section 102(8)(a) by providing the following:

a copy of the written record of its illegal content risk assessment(s) in respect of 4chan.org as required by the first statutory information request; and information specified in the second statutory information request relating to its qualifying worldwide revenue ('QWR').

Should 4chan fail to comply, a daily rate penalty of £100 per day will be imposed starting from the day after the date of the Confirmation Decision for either 60 days or until 4chan provides Ofcom with the information outlined above (whichever is sooner).

See article from x.com

Preston Byrne is defending 4Chan in US law nad has a few interesting reveals into how Ofcom intend to pursue its censorship citing sovereign imunity.

 

Porn websites too

Ofcom has announced that it will take the next steps in the pursuit of porn website provider AVS Limited.

This in relation to the adult sites www.pornzog.com, www.txxx.com, www.txxx.tube, www.upornia.com, www.hdzog.com, www.hdzog.tube, www.thegay.com, www.thegay.tube, www.ooxxx.com, www.hotmovs.com, www.hclips.com, www.vjav.com, www.pornl.com, www.voyeurhit.com, www.manysex.com, www.tubepornclassic.com, www.shemalez.com and www.shemalez.tube .

Ofcom explains

Following an investigation, Ofcom has provisionally determined that there are reasonable grounds to believe AVS Group Ltd has failed, and is failing, to comply with section 12 of the Online Safety Act ('the Act'). Section 12 imposes a duty on providers of services that fall under Part 3 of the Act, and allow pornographic content, to ensure that children are prevented from encountering pornographic content through the use of highly effective age assurance.

Ofcom therefore issued a provisional notice of contravention to AVS Group Ltd on 10 October 2025 under section 130 of the Act. The notice also sets out our provisional view that AVS Group Ltd has infringed its duties under section 102(8) of the Act by failing to respond to a statutory request for information issued as part of the investigation.

Similarly Ofcom is haranging websites from Youngtek Solutions Ltd The websites under consideration are www.imagefap.com, www.empflix.com www.moviefap.com, www.pornrepublic.com and www.TNAflix.com.