Preston Byrne joined Adam Cherry on the Guido Fawkes Show this week to explain how he is taking on the Ofcom bullies over their abuse of the Online Safety Act. Byrne is representing 4chan in their fight against Ofcom in the US courts after the regulator tried whacking the site with a £20,000 fine earlier this year. As Guido reported yesterday, 4chan has retaliated with a lawsuit of its own…
Byrne also reveals how he and his colleagues have filed a bill in the state of Wyoming to build a ‘pro-free speech Death Star’ piece of legislation to stop the likes of Ofcom playing these games again. Read the draft bill here. Ofcom are still claiming they have ‘sovereign immunity’ in this fight. Byrne isn’t having it. Watch for yourselves…
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The broadcasting watchdog-turned online sheriff Ofcom has declared it has “sovereign immunity” from a lawsuit filed by US-based site 4chan, after the site sued the regulator for violating its First Amendment protections. It is the latest in a free speech clash sparked by (what else?) the Online Safety Act, which Ofcom used to fine 4chan £20,000 earlier this year. A fine 4chan is refusing to pay…
In response to 4chan’s latest counterattack, Ofcom filed a notice in federal court in DC:
“Ofcom is a UK public regulatory authority and has substantial grounds for seeking dismissal of this lawsuit based on sovereign immunity.”
4chan’s lawyers argue that since Ofcom operates as a “commercial enterprise” , it should not benefit from sovereign immunity. Ofcom, meanwhile, still insists 4chan is not protected by the First Amendment and is demanding the cash. It’s all out war…
Media watchdog Ofcom has ruled that the BBC documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone broke the broadcasting code by failing to disclose that the narrator’s father was a member of Hamas. The BBC has already admitted the doc breached its own editorial guidelines…
Now Ofcom has come to the same obvious conclusion:
“Our investigation found that the programme’s failure to disclose that the narrator’s father held a position in the Hamas-run administration was materially misleading. It meant that the audience did not have critical information which may have been highly relevant to their assessment of the narrator and the information he provided.”
The breach is so serious that the BBC will now have to air a statement of Ofcom’s findings against it on BBC2 at 9pm, with the date pending. A howler for the broadcaster…
The BBC is set to cut back on its current affairs coverage as more and more Brits cancel their licence fees. The broadcaster has asked media watchdog Ofcom to slash its mandatory peak-time current affairs quota across BBC One and BBC Two, arguing they need to adapt to changing viewer habits and a lack of cash. Ofcom, the benevolent media overlords that they are when not policing the internet, say they are considering the BBC’s proposal…
The BBC said today:
“These proposals reflect changing viewing habits and aim to focus on delivering new, high-quality content while achieving greater value for money for licence fee payers. We remain committed to providing high-impact current affairs programming, as shown by our recent Panorama investigation into Charing Cross police station.”
Ofcom has whacked US-based 4chan with a £20,000 fine for failing to respond to the watchdog’s request for its “illegal harms risk assessment” in compliance with the new Online Safety Act. The first fine of its kind since the Act was introduced…
The internet sheriff has told 4chan it will also start charging £100 per day from tomorrow:
“The provider of 4chan has not responded to our request for a copy of its illegal harms risk assessment, nor a second request relating to its qualifying worldwide revenue. As a result, Ofcom has fined 4chan £20,000. We will also impose a daily penalty of £100 per day, starting from tomorrow, for either 60 days or until 4chan provides us with this information, whichever is sooner.”
Ofcom’s Director of Enforcement Suzanne Cater today warned the fine “sends a clear message” that anyone violating the act can expect the same treatment. Preston Byrne, a lawyer representing 4chan, said the company isn’t taking this lying down…
“…4chan’s constitutional rights remain completely unaffected by this foreign e-mail. 4chan will obey UK censorship laws when pigs fly. In the meantime, there’s litigation pending in DC. Ofcom hasn’t yet answered. We’ll see Ofcom in court.”
This isn’t over yet…
Ofcom has hired a new Director of Communications: former Remain campaigner and Labour adviser David Chaplin. Impartial comms to be expected?
Chaplin began his political career working for two former Labour MPs Christine McCafferty and Gordon Marsden from 2004 to 2009. He later became a comms adviser to now-Scotland Secretary Douglas Alexander from 2013 to 2015. Labour stooge…
In June 2015, Chaplin took up the role of Strategic Communications Director for the official Remain campaign. Another job well done…
Chaplin was also an executive committee member of left-wing think tank Fabian Society from 2009 to 2019, where he co-authored a report suggesting the BBC follow a “European Coverage Quota” in the fight against the “increasing rise of Euroscepticism”. He’s now about to be at the top table of an organisation responsible for policing the internet…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”