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* {{Onion Official site|oxwugzccvk3dk6tj}}
* {{Onion Official site|oxwugzccvk3dk6tj}}


{{Antisemitism}}
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Revision as of 16:13, 10 September 2019

For other uses, see 8chan (disambiguation).

8chan
File:InfiniteChan∞chanLogo.svg
Type of site
Imageboard
Available inEnglish (users can create language-specific boards)
OwnerJim Watkins
N.T. Technology (2channel)[1]
Created byFredrick Brennan
URL8ch.net[dead link] oxwugzccvk3dk6tj.onion Tor network(Accessing link help)[dead link]
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional

8chan, also called Infinitechan or Infinitychan (stylized as ∞chan), is an imageboard website composed of user-created message boards. An owner moderates each board, with minimal interaction from site administration.[3]

As with unaffiliated imageboard 4chan, the site is linked to harmful activism, in particular that of the alt-right, as well as to multiple mass shootings.[4][5][6] The site is also known for its presence of child pornography,[7] and as a result, it was filtered out from Google Search.[8] Several of the site's boards played an active role in the Gamergate controversy, encouraging Gamergate affiliates to frequent 8chan after 4chan banned the topic. As of June 2019, 8chan was the 3,832nd most visited site in the world.[2] As of November 2014, it received an average of 35,000 unique visitors per day and 400,000 posts per week.[7]

In the aftermath of the back-to-back mass shootings on August 3 and August 4, 2019, in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, respectively, the site was taken off the clearnet on August 5, 2019, after the network infrastructure provider Cloudflare stopped providing their content delivery network (CDN) service. Voxility, a web services company that had been renting servers to Epik, the site's new CDN provider through brand BitMitigate, also terminated service.[9][10] Shortly before the El Paso shooting, a four-page message justifying the attack was posted to 8chan, and police have stated that they are "reasonably confident" it was posted by the perpetrator.[11][12]

History

8chan was created in October 2013 by computer programmer Fredrick Brennan,[13] better known by his alias "Hotwheels".[14][15] Brennan created the website after he observed what he perceived to be rapidly escalating surveillance and a loss of free speech on the Internet.[7] Brennan, who considers the imageboard 4chan to have grown into authoritarianism, describes 8chan as a "free-speech-friendly" alternative,[7] and originally conceptualized the site while experiencing a psychedelic mushrooms trip.[14][16]

No experience or programming knowledge is necessary for users to create their own boards.[3] Since as early as March 2014, its FAQ has stated only one rule that is to be globally enforced: "Do not post, request, or link to any content illegal in the United States of America. Do not create boards with the sole purpose of posting or spreading such content."[3] Brennan has claimed that, while he finds some of the content posted by users to be "reprehensible", he feels personally obligated to uphold the site's integrity by tolerating discussion he does not necessarily support regardless of his moral stance.[7]

Brennan agreed to partner 8chan with the Japanese message board 2channel,[14] and subsequently relocated to the Philippines in October 2014.[17]

In January 2015, the site changed its domain 8chan.co to 8ch.net after multiple people filed reports complaining to 8chan's registrar that the message board hosted child pornography. Despite subsequently regaining the domain, the site remained at 8ch.net, with the old domain redirecting to it.[16]

Numerous bugs in the Infinity software led to the funding and development of a successor platform dubbed "Infinity Next". After a several-month-long testing period, a migration to the new software was attempted in December 2015, but failed.[18][clarification needed] In January 2016, development was halted, and the main developer, Joshua Moon, was fired by Brennan.[19] Brennan himself officially resigned in July 2016, turning the site over to its owner, Jim Watkins and his son, Ron.[clarification needed][20][15] He cited the failure of the "Infinity Next" project and disillusionment with what 8chan had become as reasons.[20]

August 2019 removal from clearnet

Following the three shootings in 2019 (Christchurch, New Zealand, in March; Poway, California, in April; El Paso, Texas, in August), in which the perpetrators of each used 8chan as a platform to spread their manifesto, there was increased pressure on those providing 8chan's Internet services to terminate their support.[21]

Matthew Prince, CEO of Cloudflare, initially defended his firm's technological support of 8chan on August 3, 2019, the day of the El Paso shooting: "What happened in El Paso today is abhorrent in every possible way, and it's ugly, and I hate that there's any association between us and that … For us the question is which is the worse evil?".[22]

However, by the next day, August 4, with increasing press attention, Cloudflare changed its position, and rescinded its support for 8chan effective midnight August 5 Pacific Time, potentially leaving the site open for denial of service attacks. Prince stated "Unfortunately the action we take today won't fix hate online...It will almost certainly not even remove 8chan from the Internet. But it is the right thing to do."[23] The Cloudflare Blog wrote that "8chan is among the more than 19 million Internet properties that use Cloudflare's service. We just sent notice that we are terminating 8chan as a customer effective at midnight tonight Pacific Time. The rationale is simple: they have proven themselves to be lawless and that lawlessness has caused multiple tragic deaths. Even if 8chan may not have violated the letter of the law in refusing to moderate their hate-filled community, they have created an environment that revels in violating its spirit."[24] Brennan, the creator of 8chan who ceased being the owner in 2015 and ceased working for the website in 2018, stated on August 4, 2019 that 8chan should be shut down,[21] and subsequently thanked Cloudflare for its decision to pull 8chan's support.[23]

Tucows also terminated its support as 8chan's domain name registrar, making the site difficult to access. In the wake of Cloudflare and Tucows' changes, 8chan switched its domain register to BitMitigate, a division of Epik, a provider that had previously serviced right-wing sites like Gab and The Daily Stormer. After 8chan moved to Epik, the company's CEO Rob Monster wrote, "Freedom of speech and expression are fundamental rights in a free society. We enter into a slippery slope when we start to limit speech that makes us uncomfortable."[25] However, Voxility, the company that provided BitMitigate and Epik with its own servers and Internet connectivity, then took steps to stop leasing servers to BitMitigate, taking that site offline, and stating that the intended use of their servers violated their acceptable use policy.[26] Monster changed his decision to provide content hosting to 8chan soon after the company's removal from Voxility, although Ars Technica noted that the company had begun providing 8chan with DNS services.[27]

Although the website was unreachable through its usual domain on the clearnet, users continued to access the site through its IP address and via its .onion address on the darknet.[28] Security researcher and terrorism analyst Rita Katz noted that 8chan had also appeared on ZeroNet, another darkweb network, although an 8chan administrator tweeted that their team was not the one running the site.[29]

On August 6, 2019, the United States House Committee on Homeland Security called 8chan's owner Jim Watkins, an American living in the Philippines, to testify about the website's efforts to tackle "the proliferation of extremist content, including white supremacist content".[30] On August 11, 2019, Watkins uploaded a YouTube video saying that 8chan had been offline "voluntarily", and that it would go back online after he spoke with the Homeland Security Committee.[31]

Controversies

Numerous controversies related to content posted on 8chan have arisen, to the extent that participation by individuals or companies in the website can itself cause controversy. On February 25, 2019, THQ Nordic hosted an AMA (ask me anything) thread on the video games board of the website, /v/, for which it later apologized.[32]

Gamergate

Main article: Gamergate controversy

On September 18, 2014, 8chan became entangled in the Gamergate controversy after 4chan banned discussion of Gamergate,[7][17][33] whereupon 8chan became one of several hubs for Gamergate activity.[7][17][34][35] 8chan's initial Gamergate-oriented board also gained attention after being compromised by members of the internet troll group Gay Nigger Association of America, forcing Gamergate activists to migrate to "/gamergate/". This replacement quickly became the site's second-most accessed board.[34]

Swatting incidents and violent threats

In January 2015 the site was used as a base for swatting exploits in Portland, Seattle, and Burnaby, British Columbia, most of them tied to the victims' criticism of Gamergate and 8chan's association with it;[36] the attacks were coordinated on a board on the website called "/baphomet/".[35] One of the victims of a swatting attack said that she was singled out because she had followed someone on Twitter.[37][38][39] On February 9, 2015, contents on the "/baphomet/" subboard were wiped after personal information of Katherine Forrest, the presiding judge in the Silk Road case, had been posted there.[40]

On 2019 a post threatening mass shooting against Bethel Park High School was posted on 8chan; as a result an 18-year-old individual was arrested and charged with one count of terroristic threats and one count of retaliation against a witness or victim.[41]

Child pornography

Boards have been created to discuss topics such as child rape. While the sharing of illegal content is against site rules, The Daily Dot wrote that boards do exist to share sexualized images of minors in provocative poses, and that some users of those boards do post links to explicit child pornography hosted elsewhere.[7] When asked whether such boards were an inevitable result of free speech, Brennan responded, "Unfortunately, yes. I don’t support the content on the boards you mentioned, but it is simply the cost of free speech and being the only active site to not impose more 'laws' than those that were passed in Washington, D.C."[7]

In August 2015, 8chan was blacklisted from Google Search for what Google described as content constituting "suspected child abuse content".[8]

Donald Trump presidential campaign

In July 2016, U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump tweeted an image of Hillary Clinton with a background of money and a six-pointed star, seen by some as resembling the Star of David, containing the message "Most corrupt candidate ever". The image had been posted to 8chan's /pol/ board as early as June 22, over a week before Trump's team tweeted it.[42][43]

QAnon

Main article: QAnon

During 2018, a user that referred to himself as "Q" gained attention and promoted conspiracy theories about the deep state, eventually leading to an international movement. Sean Hannity has retweeted QAnon hashtags on his Twitter feed.[44][45][46] The original group of Q followers on Reddit were banned on March 14, 2018, over their promotion of the theory.[47] They quickly regrouped into a new subreddit, which featured posts from Q and other anonymous posters on 8chan in a more reader-friendly format. The subreddit was banned[48] for a second time on September 12, 2018.[49] With a flood of new users on the board, Q asked one of the website's owners, Ron Watkins, to upgrade the website's servers in order to accommodate all of the board's website traffic on September 19, 2018.[50]

The movement has been linked with the Pizzagate conspiracy theory. The Q movement has also been linked to the hashtags #TheGreatAwakening and #WWG1WGA,[51] which stands for "where we go one, we go all"; it's also sometimes linked with the phrase "Follow the White Rabbit".[52]

Louisiana Police's antifa list

In September 2018, the Louisiana State Police were scrutinized for using a hoax list of personal information about supposed antifascist (antifa) activists originally posted on 8chan's politics board. The document, dubbed "full list of antifa.docx" by police officers, actually contained the names of several thousand people who signed online petitions against President Donald Trump. The State Police has refused to disclose the list, claiming it would "compromise" ongoing criminal investigations in which it expects arrests. A lawsuit against Louisiana State Police was filed on behalf of the record requester by Harvard lecturer and former public defender Thomas Frampton, alleging that the Police's refusal to release the list indicates that it actually believed the credibility of the hoax list and used it in investigatons and litigations.[53]

2019 shootings

The perpetrators of Christchurch mosque shootings, Poway synagogue shooting and El Paso shooting of 2019 each used 8chan to spread their manifesto. As a result, there have been increased pressure on those providing 8chan's Internet services to terminate their support,[21] which led to the services companies' withdrawal from providing CDN and domain registry, taking the website off the clearnet.

Christchurch mosque shootings

Prior to the shootings at Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 15, 2019, the alleged perpetrator posted links to the 17-minute Facebook Live video of the first attack on Al Noor Mosque and his white nationalist, neo-fascist manifesto The Great Replacement (named after the French far-right theory of the same name by writer Renaud Camus) detailing his anti-Islamic and anti-immigration reasons for the attack. The shootings that ensued left 51 dead and 50 more injured.[54][55][56] The shooter shared links to the live stream video only minutes before the attack on 8chan and on Facebook. Some members of 8chan re-shared it and applauded the violent murders.[57]

On March 20, 2019, Australian telecom companies Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone denied millions of Australians access to the websites 4chan, 8chan, Zero Hedge, and Liveleak as a reaction to the Christchurch mosque shootings.[58]

Poway synagogue shooting

John T. Earnest, the alleged perpetrator of the Poway synagogue shooting at the Chabad of Poway in Poway, California on April 27, 2019 and the Escondido mosque fire at the Islamic Center of Escondido in Escondido, California on March 25, 2019, had posted links to his open letter and his attempted livestream on 8chan, which Earnest also named as a place of radicalization for him.[59] According to 8chan's Twitter, the shooter's post was removed nine minutes after its creation.[60]

El Paso shooting

Patrick Crusius of Allen, Texas, the alleged perpetrator of the 2019 El Paso shooting at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas on August 3, 2019, posted a four-page white nationalist manifesto The Inconvenient Truth on 8chan less than an hour before the shooting began. 8chan moderators quickly removed the original post, though users continued to circulate links to this manifesto.[61][22]

References

  1. ^ "Who owns 8chan?". 8chan. Archived from the original on August 5, 2019. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
  2. ^ a b "8ch.net Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c Brennan, Fredrick. "FAQ". 8chan.net. Infinitechan. Archived from the original on August 5, 2019. Retrieved November 23, 2014.
  4. ^ Wong, Julia Carrie (August 4, 2019). "8chan: the far-right website linked to the rise in hate crimes". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
  5. ^ Roose, Kevin (August 4, 2019). "8chan Is a Megaphone for Gunmen. 'Shut the Site Down,' Says Its Creator". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
  6. ^ CNN, Gianluca Mezzofiore and Donie O'Sullivan. "El Paso shooting is at least the third atrocity linked to 8chan this year". CNN. Retrieved August 5, 2019. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Howell O'Neill, Patrick (November 17, 2014). "8chan, the central hive of Gamergate, is also an active pedophile network". The Daily Dot.
  8. ^ a b Machkovech, Sam (August 14, 2015). "8chan-hosted content disappears from Google searches". Ars Technica. Condé Nast. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  9. ^ Robertson, Adi (August 5, 2019). "8chan goes dark after hardware provider discontinues service". The Verge. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
  10. ^ Harwell, Drew. "A defiant 8chan vowed to fight on, saying its 'heartbeat is strong.' Then a tech firm knocked it offline". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
  11. ^ Roose, Kevin. "8chan, Megaphone for Gunmen, Has Gone Dark. 'Shut the Site Down,' Says Its Creator". The New York Times. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
  12. ^ Collins, Ben (August 3, 2019). "Investigators 'reasonably confident' Texas suspect left anti-immigrant screed". NBC News. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  13. ^ Brennan, Fredrick (March 17, 2015). "Full transcript: Ars interviews 8chan founder Fredrick Brennan". Ars Technica (Interview). Interviewed by Sam Machkovech. Archived from the original on November 25, 2015. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  14. ^ a b c Brennan, Fredrick (October 9, 2014). "Q&A with Fredrick Brennan of 8chan". Know Your Meme (Interview). Interviewed by Don Caldwell. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  15. ^ a b Tunison, Mike (September 10, 2017). "What is 8chan, the internet's most dangerous message board?". The Daily Dot. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  16. ^ a b Caitlin, Dewey (January 13, 2015). "This is what happens when you create an online community without any rules". The Washington Post.
  17. ^ a b c Chen, Adrian (October 27, 2014). "Gamergate Supporters Partied at a Strip Club This Weekend". New York.
  18. ^ Moon, Joshua (December 19, 2015). "qt2ww". Archived from the original (Plaintext) on December 19, 2015. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  19. ^ Brennan, Fredrick (January 26, 2016). "Infinity Never". Medium. Retrieved February 2, 2016.
  20. ^ a b 8chan.co (July 4, 2016). "'Hotwheels'—a postmortem". Medium. Retrieved December 1, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)[dead link]
  21. ^ a b c Roose, Kevin (August 4, 2019). "8chan Is a Megaphone for Gunmen. 'Shut the Site Down,' Says Its Creator". The New York Times. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
  22. ^ a b Julia Carrie Wong (August 3, 2019). "8chan: the far-right website linked to the rise in hate crimes". The Guardian. Retrieved August 3, 2019. Three attackers in six months allegedly posted their plans on the site in advance. In an exclusive interview, Silicon Valley CEO explains his 'moral obligation' to keep 8chan online
  23. ^ a b Kelly, Makena (August 4, 2019). "Cloudflare to revoke 8chan's service, opening the fringe website up for DDoS attacks". The Verge. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
  24. ^ "Terminating Service for 8Chan". Cloudflare Blog.
  25. ^ Fischer, Christine (August 5, 2019). "The internet is racing to cut ties with 8chan after another deadly shooting". Engadget. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
  26. ^ Harwell, Drew (August 5, 2019). "A defiant 8chan vowed to fight on, saying its 'heartbeat is strong.' Then a tech firm knocked it offline". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
  27. ^ Salter, Jim (August 7, 2019). "8chan resurfaces, along with The Daily Stormer and another Nazi site". Ars Technica. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  28. ^ Bajak, Frank (August 7, 2019). "8chan owner heading to US as lawmakers seek answers". The Associated Press. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  29. ^ "8chan Activates "Emergency Bunker" on Dark Web". DarkOwl. August 6, 2019. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  30. ^ "8chan owner called before Congress, as latest host drops site". Reuters.com. August 6, 2019. Retrieved August 7, 2019. {{cite web}}: Cite uses deprecated parameter |authors= (help)
  31. ^ Gonzalez, Oscar (August 13, 2019). "8chan owner says site will stay down until he talks with Congress". CNET. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  32. ^ "THQ Nordic Issues Apology For 8Chan AMA". Tech Raptor.
  33. ^ Audureau, William (October 15, 2014). "4chan, wizardchan, 8chan... s'y retrouver dans la jungle des forums anonymes les plus populaires du Web". Le Monde (in French). France.
  34. ^ a b Bernstein, Joseph (December 4, 2014). "GamerGate's Headquarters Has Been Destroyed By Trolls". Buzzfeed.
  35. ^ a b Hern, Alex (January 13, 2015). "Gamergate hits new low with attempts to send Swat teams to critics". The Guardian. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  36. ^ Mattise, Nathan (January 4, 2015). "8chan tries "swatting" GamerGate critic, sends cops to an old address". Ars Technica.
  37. ^ McElroy, Justin (January 15, 2015). "Police falsely called to Burnaby women's home by online harassers". Global News. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  38. ^ Cheong, Ian Miles (January 13, 2015). "Canadian Victim of Gamergate SWATing Attempt Comes Forward". Gameranx. Archived from the original on January 16, 2015. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  39. ^ "Reckless 'swatting' prank sends police to B.C. woman's home". CTV News. January 14, 2015. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
  40. ^ Machkovech, Sam (February 12, 2015). "Notorious 8chan "subboard" has history wiped after federal judge's doxing". Ars Technica. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
  41. ^ "Teen Facing Multiple Charges For Allegedly Threatening Bethel Park High School". March 18, 2019. Retrieved June 25, 2019.
  42. ^ Smith, Anthony (July 3, 2016). "Mic Discovered Who Created Trump's Anti-Semitic Hillary Meme – And It's Disturbing". Mic. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
  43. ^ Wendling, Mike (August 26, 2016). "Trump's shock troops: Who are the 'alt-right'?". BBC News.
  44. ^ "Anti-abortion group Operation Rescue has become fully "red-pilled" by an 8chan conspiracy theory". Salon. February 20, 2018. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  45. ^ "Infowars fully embraces 'The Storm', a conspiracy theory called "the new Pizzagate"". Media Matters for America. January 8, 2018. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  46. ^ Sommer, Will (January 12, 2018). "Meet "The Storm," the conspiracy theory taking over the pro-Trump internet". Medium. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  47. ^ Sommer, Will (March 14, 2018). "Reddit has banned the main subreddit devoted to the right-wing "#QAnon" conspiracy theory popular on Infowars, and is apparently purging a bunch of users' accounts as wellpic.twitter.com/3EZvxbuVJH". @willsommer. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  48. ^ "Who is behind the Qanon conspiracy? We've traced it to three people". NBC News. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
  49. ^ "QAnon Followers Have Limited Options After Reddit Ban". The Daily Dot. September 14, 2018. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
  50. ^ "Q". qanon.pub. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
  51. ^ Geddes, Martin (July 11, 2018). "WWG1WGA: The greatest communications event in history". Medium. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
  52. ^ "'Follow the White Rabbit' is the most bonkers conspiracy theory you will ever read". November 21, 2017. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  53. ^ Tue, Sep 4th 2018 10:44am-Tim Cushing. "Louisiana Police Appear To Be Using A Hoax Antifa List Created By 8Chan To Open Criminal Investigations". Techdirt.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  54. ^ "Gunman's family in Australia called police after news of Christchurch massacre". news.com.au. March 15, 2019. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  55. ^ Graham-McLay, Charlotte; Ramzy, Austin; Victor, Daniel (March 14, 2019). "New Zealand Police Say Multiple Deaths in 2 Mosque Shootings in Christchurch". The New York Times. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  56. ^ "Christchurch Shooting Updates: 40 Are Dead After 2 Mosques Are Hit". The New York Times. March 14, 2019.
  57. ^ Brewster, Thomas (March 15, 2019). "After The New Zealand Terror Attack, Should 8chan Be Wiped From The Web?". Forbes. Retrieved March 18, 2019.
  58. ^ "4chan, 8chan, LiveLeak and Others Blocked by Australian Internet Companies over Mosque Massacre Video".
  59. ^ Collins, Ben; Blankstein, Andrew (April 27, 2019). "Anti-Semitic open letter posted online under name of Chabad synagogue shooting suspect". NBC News. NBC Universal. Retrieved April 29, 2019.
  60. ^ 8chan (8ch.net) [@infinitechan] (April 28, 2019). "The Poway shooter's post on 8chan was taken down NINE minutes after creation. There are only screencaps available and no archives exist since the post was deleted so quickly. The loudest groups publicizing this crime and giving attention to this CRIMINAL are the fake-news media" (Tweet) – via Twitter.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  61. ^ Evans, Robert (August 4, 2019). "The El Paso Shooting and the Gamification of Terror". Bellingcat.

External links

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source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=&diff=prev&oldid=914994560

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