Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

You can paste full URL like: https://x.com/threadreaderapp/status/1644127596119195649
or just the ID like: 1644127596119195649

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

  1. On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
  2. Click again on or Share Via icon
  3. Click on Copy Link to Tweet
  4. Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
  5. More info at Twitter Help
Preston Byrne Profile picture
@prestonjbyrne
Jan 11 • 6 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X
The Ofcom Files: Exposing the UK's Attempt to Destroy the First Amendment

prestonbyrne.com/2025/10/16/the…
The Ofcom Files, Part II: IP Blocking the UK is Not Enough to Comply with the Online Safety Act
prestonbyrne.com/2025/11/06/the…
The Ofcom Files, Part III: No Surrender
prestonbyrne.com/2025/11/18/the…
The Ofcom Files, Part IV: Ofcom Rides Again
prestonbyrne.com/2025/12/04/the…
The Ofcom Files, Part V: Block Harder
prestonbyrne.com/2026/01/08/the…
I was keeping a contemporaneous public log of everything the UK has been trying to do to American citizens for the last six months because I knew, one day, they'd come after X.

And when that day came, I wanted all the UK's behavior on the public record, ready for scrutiny.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Preston Byrne

Preston Byrne Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @prestonjbyrne

Preston Byrne Profile picture
Dec 25, 2025
Everyone freaking out over European sanctions today simply hasn't done the reading.

What is happening now is the resolution of a 60-year-old question that the world has not (yet) answered: in a world where law is confined to borders, who gets to write the laws of the Internet?
There are two competing approaches.

The European approach is that nations will broadly harmonize domestic censorship systems - EU, Australia, UK, NZ, Singapore all singing from approximately the same hymn sheet - and U.S. corps will have to also harmonize, or be locked out.
The alternative approach is that borders have meaning and American companies, and American websites, follow American rules, with that choice being backed up by American power.

I wrote about this in Sept. I call this doctrine lex loci machinae.

prestonbyrne.com/2025/09/30/lex…
Read 9 tweets
Preston Byrne Profile picture
Dec 24, 2025
You should start by sending each of the four US companies the UK targeted under the Online Safety Act letters of apology and a fruit basket

Then you should agree to never threaten an American citizen for exercising their free speech rights ever again
And I don’t want a crappy fruit basket sent to my clients either. We’re talking Fortnum & Mason or Harry and David, the good shit
The alternative to a letter of apology and a fruit basket sees to be the fracturing of a hundred year old transatlantic alliance and further regulatory embarrassment

The fruit basket is the moderate solution
Read 5 tweets
Preston Byrne Profile picture
Dec 9, 2025
A client got their first letter from Australian eSafety.

This was our reply. The US government was copied. Image
Australia presents, to the United States, the exact same threat that the UK and EU do.

The timing is not coincidental. All three sovereigns programmed their regimes to come online at the same time.

We have a very short window, as a country, to shut it down.
And, like, you'd think these jurisdictions swap notes.

Don't come after my clients.
Read 10 tweets
Preston Byrne Profile picture
Nov 24, 2025
Reliably informed that Ofcom's going to trial balloon a suggestion that US sites that don't want to obey the Online Safety Act need to geoblock UK.

Geoblock us yourselves. The 1st Amendment says Americans do not need to change even one bit on our servers due to British laws.
Correct.

1) No regulation without representation.

2) If you want to censor your own people, own the decision yourselves. We're not going to help you.

So far, Ofcom has indeed nitpicked every geoblock I’ve advised on. When they nitpicked Kiwi Farms about it something in me just sort of snapped and that’s when I made up my mind that they had to be stopped at any cost.
Read 7 tweets
Preston Byrne Profile picture
Nov 11, 2025
The 4chan v Ofcom showdown already happened. Ofcom lost.

Ofcom sent their fine notice. We told Ofcom to go to hell.

We're still going to look for confirmation that Ofcom's orders are not legally valid, but if they want to enforce they'll need to bring a US suit of their own.
Ofcom took ten months to figure out that every time they give an American the ability to visibly refuse their orders, that is a defeat.

I think, after the last one, they might have figured this out. I do not expect many more such notices to flow directly into the US.
What I am expecting is that Ofcom will try to backchannel with US tech companies that aren't under congressional subpoena or will try to go after companies with a group-level UK nexus and group-level UK assets.
Read 4 tweets
Preston Byrne Profile picture
Oct 18, 2025
"Ofcom may seek recovery of those penalties"

To do that, they will need to get through me and Ron and try to collect in the United States.

That is never going to happen. British media take note when Ofcom decides to triumphantly "enforce" in a month.
If Ofcom wants to block 4chan, that's on Ofcom, and never again will anyone be able to call the Online Safety Act anything other than a censorship law.
Incorrect: they want to scare other Americans into voluntary compliance like they obtained from everyone under the GDPR.

This is why we need backup from Congress, to avoid sleepwalking into a British-controlled global speech regime.

Read 9 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

Send Email!

:(