4chan and Kiwi Farms sue UK over alleged First Amendment violation in Online Safety Act

4chan and Kiwi Farms have filed a lawsuit against the UK's Ofcom over the controversial UK Online Safety Act. You probably know about 4chan, the infamous and ancient imageboard that has spawned countless memes and real-world mayhem.

But you may not know Kiwi Farms, which is relatively newer, born in 2013 from the dregs of 8chan to organize group trolling. Kiwi Farms has earned a nasty reputation for coordinated harassment campaigns that have gotten the forum booted from services like Cloudflare and DreamHost.

According to the complaint filed by the two controversial forums' lawyers in a Washington, DC, Federal Court, they want a ban on the UK regulator enforcing the Act against them in the United States.

The legal case seeks the court to take action by issuing a permanent injunction that would prohibit Ofcom from trying to apply its rules on American soil. The core argument is that US businesses without a physical presence in the UK should not be subject to British laws that directly conflict with the US Constitution's protections for speech.

The Online Safety Act is a sweeping piece of legislation designed to regulate the UK's online space. It forces forums to protect users from illegal content, with a specific focus on keeping *********** and other harmful material away from children.

The law has already seen pushback from the likes of The Wikimedia Foundation (the folks that run Wikipedia), the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and ARTICLE 19, who all argue it poses a significant threat to freedom of speech.

Preston Byrne of law firm Byrne & Storm, which represents the forums, told the BBC, "American citizens do not surrender our constitutional rights just because Ofcom sends us an e-mail."

That "e-mail" was a "legally binding information notice" Ofcom had sent to both forums back in April this year. The notice demanded they conduct a risk assessment for illegal content and threatened an £18 million fine for non-compliance. Ofcom then followed up this August with a provisional ruling that 4chan had broken the law, threatening a £20,000 fine with additional daily penalties.

The lawsuit also accuses Ofcom of using threats of "ruinous civil penalties and referrals to law enforcement for criminal penalties, including arrest and imprisonment" to force American companies to comply with the UK's content laws.