8chan: Difference between revisions

*{{cite news |last=Rosenberg |first=Eli |date=November 30, 2018 |title=Pence shares picture of himself meeting a SWAT officer with a QAnon conspiracy patch |worknewspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/12/01/pence-shares-picture-him-meeting-swat-officer-wearing-qanon-conspiracy-patch/}}

*{{cite news |last=Roose |first=Kevin |date=July 10, 2019 |title=Trump Rolls Out the Red Carpet for Right-Wing Social Media Trolls |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/10/business/trump-social-media-summit.html |access-date=July 17, 2019 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite news |last=Weill |first=Kelly |date=2020-11-12 |title=QAnon's Home 8kun Is Imploding—and Q Has Gone Silent |language=en |work=[[The Daily Beast]] |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/qanons-home-8kun-is-implodingand-q-has-gone-silent |access-date=2021-01-21}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite newsmagazine |last=Thomas |first=Elise |date=February 17, 2020 |title=Qanon Deploys 'Information Warfare' to Influence the 2020 Election |language=en-us |workmagazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |url=https://www.wired.com/story/qanon-deploys-information-warfare-influence-2020-election/ |access-date=2021-01-21 |issn=1059-1028}}</ref>

Shortly before the [[2019 El Paso shooting]], a four-page message justifying the attack was posted to the site, and police have stated that they are "reasonably confident" it was posted by the perpetrator.<ref name="nytimes 20190804" /><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/investigators-reasonably-confident-texas-suspect-left-anti-immigrant-screed-tipped-n1039031 |title=Investigators 'reasonably confident' Texas suspect left anti-immigrant screed |last=Collins |first=Ben |date=August 3, 2019 |work=[[NBC News]] |language=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190807020925/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/investigators-reasonably-confident-texas-suspect-left-anti-immigrant-screed-tipped-n1039031 |archive-date=August 7, 2019 |access-date=August 11, 2019}}</ref> In the aftermath of the back-to-back mass shootings on August 3 in El Paso and [[2019 Dayton shooting|August 4 in Dayton, Ohio]], respectively, the site was taken off [[Clearnet (networking)|clearnet]] on August 5, 2019, when network infrastructure provider [[Cloudflare]] stopped providing their [[content delivery network]] (CDN) service. Voxility, a web services company that had been renting servers to [[Epik (domain registrar)|Epik]], the site's new domain registrar, as well as Epik's CDN provider subsidiary BitMitigate, also terminated service.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/5/20754943/8chan-epik-offline-voxility-service-cutoff-hate-speech-ban |title=8chan goes dark after hardware provider discontinues service |last1=Robertson |first1=Adi |date=August 5, 2019 |work=[[The Verge]] |access-date=August 5, 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808121939/https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/5/20754943/8chan-epik-offline-voxility-service-cutoff-hate-speech-ban |archive-date=August 8, 2019}}</ref><ref name="Defiant8chan">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/08/05/defiant-chan-vowed-fight-saying-its-heartbeat-is-strong-then-tech-firm-knocked-it-offline/ |title=A defiant 8chan vowed to fight on, saying its 'heartbeat is strong.' Then a tech firm knocked it offline. |last=Harwell |first=Drew |date=August 5, 2019 |worknewspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |language=en |url-access=limited |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190806034040/https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/08/05/defiant-chan-vowed-fight-saying-its-heartbeat-is-strong-then-tech-firm-knocked-it-offline/?noredirect=on |archive-date=August 6, 2019 |access-date=August 5, 2019}}</ref> After several attempts to return to clearnet were ultimately stymied by providers denying service to 8chan, the site returned to the clearnet as ''8kun'' in November 2019 through a Russian hosting provider.<ref name="8kun">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/technology/8chan-returns-8kun.html |title=It's Back: 8chan Returns Online |first=Kate |last=Conger |date=2019-11-04 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=2019-11-05}}</ref>

8chan was created in October 2013 by computer programmer [[Fredrick Brennan]].<ref>{{cite interview |last=Brennan |first=Fredrick |interviewer=Sam Machkovech |title=Full transcript: Ars interviews 8chan founder Fredrick Brennan |url=https://arstechnica.com/business/2015/03/full-transcript-ars-interviews-8chan-founder-fredrick-brennan/ |work=[[Ars Technica]] |access-date=June 15, 2015 |date=March 17, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151125135937/http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/03/full-transcript-ars-interviews-8chan-founder-fredrick-brennan/ |archive-date=November 25, 2015}}</ref><ref name="KYM"/><ref name="13things">{{cite web |url=https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/8chan/ |title=What is 8chan, the internet's most dangerous message board? |last1=Tunison |first1=Mike |date=September 10, 2017 |website=[[The Daily Dot]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190320125207/https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/8chan/ |archive-date=March 20, 2019 |access-date=May 17, 2019}}</ref> Brennan created the website after observing what he perceived to be rapidly escalating [[surveillance]] and a loss of [[free speech]] on the Internet.<ref name=Howell2014 /> Brennan, who considered the imageboard [[4chan]] to have grown into authoritarianism, described 8chan as a "free-speech-friendly" alternative,<ref name="Howell2014">{{cite web |url=https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/8chan-pedophiles-child-porn-gamergate/ |title=8chan, the central hive of Gamergate, is also an active pedophile network |last=O'Neill |first=Patrick Howell |date=November 17, 2014 |work=[[The Daily Dot]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180526154936/https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/8chan-pedophiles-child-porn-gamergate/ |archive-date=May 26, 2018}}</ref> and originally conceptualized the site while experiencing a [[psychedelic experience|psychedelic mushrooms trip]].<ref name="KYM"/><ref name="WashPost">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/01/13/this-is-what-happens-when-you-create-an-online-community-without-any-rules/ |title=This is what happens when you create an online community without any rules |last=Dewey |first=Caitlin |author-link=Caitlin Dewey Rainwater |date=January 13, 2015 |worknewspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20150619093810/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/01/13/this-is-what-happens-when-you-create-an-online-community-without-any-rules/ |archive-date=June 19, 2015 |url-access=limited}}</ref>

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".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-shooting-tech-idUSKCN1UX012 |title=8chan owner called before Congress, as latest host drops site |last1=Paul |first1=Katie |date=August 6, 2019 |access-date=August 7, 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190817014936/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-shooting-tech-idUSKCN1UX012 |archive-date=August 17, 2019 |work=[[Reuters]] |last2=Culliford |first2=Elizabeth}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/8chan-owner-says-site-will-stay-down-until-he-talks-with-congress/ |title=8chan owner says site will stay down until he talks with Congress |last=Gonzalez |first=Oscar |date=August 13, 2019 |publisher=[[CNET]] |language=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190915105730/https://www.cnet.com/news/8chan-owner-says-site-will-stay-down-until-he-talks-with-congress/ |archive-date=September 15, 2019 |access-date=August 22, 2019}}</ref> In early September, Watkins traveled to [[Washington, D.C.]] for congressional questioning. In an interview with ''[[The Washington Post]]'', Watkins said that 8chan staff were building protections against cyberattacks to replace Cloudflare's services, and that the website could come back online as early as mid-September.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/09/12/helicopter-repairman-leader-internets-darkest-reaches-life-times-chan-owner-jim-watkins/ |title=From helicopter repairman to leader of the Internet's 'darkest reaches': The life and times of 8chan owner Jim Watkins |last1=Harwell |first1=Drew |date=September 12, 2019 |worknewspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=September 29, 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190912203604/https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/09/12/helicopter-repairman-leader-internets-darkest-reaches-life-times-chan-owner-jim-watkins/?noredirect=on |archive-date=September 12, 2019 |last2=McLaughlin |first2=Timothy |language=en |url-access=limited}}</ref>