Ladies and Gentleman I bring you glad tidings. Britain’s increasingly hated state censor Ofcom has admitted defeat in trying to get foreign media organisations and platforms to kow tow to Ofcom’s edicts and pay fines to Ofcom.

Guido Fawkes said:

Ofcom boss Dame Melanie Dawes has admitted today that tech firms have paid just two of the eleven fines handed out under the Online Safety Act since March last year. Giving evidence to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, she conceded nine remain unpaid, four of the offending sites have simply geo-blocked the UK, and three are still up and running with nothing changed. Why bother in the first place, then…

She told the committee:

“We won’t be able to recover every single fine on online safety. If foreign courts decide to… try and get in our way, there will be a point at which we have to accept that we won’t be able to recover that money.”

Preston Byrne, the American lawyer who saw off Ofcom’s attempt to fine 4chan (and emailed them a picture of a giant hamster), tells Guido the quango has only itself to blame:

“The 4chan ruling also made it clear that they’re not going to be able to collect if they get here… Come to an American court and get some. If you dare.”

A paper tiger…

Congratulations to Mr Byrne and to all those across the Pond who have collectively raised two fingers at Ofcom and told them in no uncertain terms to ‘go forth and multiply’. You’ve all done a brilliant job of defending Free Speech and reminding Ofcom that their ability to censor Americans or those using American platforms ended in 1776.

I do wonder if this will have positive spin off for Britons who choose to use American platforms to communicate with other Britons because British based platforms are riddled with censorship and informers? With it now being now abundantly clear that Ofcom has no remit to pressure American platforms does it now mean that American platforms will less likely to respond positively to requests from British law enforcement for the details of posters and users of these platforms who have committed ‘wrongspeak’ in a British legal sense? Even if that is not the case this is a major win for freedom of speech and a massive blow to Ofcom. But the battle is not over yet, there’s a whole lot more of the censorious Online Safety Act that will need challenging both here in the UK and elsewhere.

Links and addendum

Guido piece on Ofcom’s failures

https://order-order.com/2026/10/20/ofcom-admits-it-has-failed-to-collect-most-online-safety-fines/

Ofcom blocks pro-suicide site from British readers despite this site also containing some excellent suicide prevention information

https://www.fahrenheit211.net/2026/08/12/how-to-prevent-suicides-or-assess-those-amongst-us-who-may-be-vulnerable-to-suicide/

I lost a bet to Mr Byrne and had to sing The Star Spangled Banner on top of an Iron Age hillfort

https://www.fahrenheit211.net/2026/08/26/i-made-a-bet-i-lost-and-now-i-have-to-pay-up-in-the-form-of-song/

Preston Byrne compares the British and American attitudes to freedom of speech

https://www.fahrenheit211.net/2025/11/03/from-elsewhere-lawyer-preston-byrne-does-a-brilliant-job-of-comparing-free-speech-in-the-usa-with-that-in-the-uk/