8chan: Forum used by extremists loses protection over mass shootings
The image board 8chan which has been tied to numerous white supremacist terrorist attacks is currently offline.
Monday 5 August 2019 13:30, UK
Controversial image board 8chan, which has been used to celebrate mass shootings in the US and New Zealand, has been abandoned by a firm designed to protect websites from digital attacks.
Cloudflare terminated its service to the message board at midnight Pacific Time (8am BST), describing it as a "lawless" platform that "has caused multiple deaths".
The site is currently unreachable due to the administrators moving it to a new service, but it is not expected that Cloudflare's move will make the site inaccessible permanently.
A "manifesto" apparently written by the Christchurch mosque attacker was posted to 8chan before the attack, which claimed the lives of 51 Muslims.
A post was also made on the platform before the San Diego synagogue shooting - allegedly written by the gunman.
After both incidents Cloudflare decided not to terminate its service for 8chan. However, following two mass shootings in the US within 24 hours of each other, the company's chief executive appeared to change his mind.
"Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident," wrote Matthew Prince, CEO of Cloudflare.
Referring to the El Paso shooting which claimed at least 20 lives, Mr Prince said: "Nearly the same thing happened on 8chan before the terror attack in Christchurch, New Zealand.
"The El Paso shooter specifically referenced the Christchurch incident and appears to have been inspired by the largely unmoderated discussions on 8chan which glorified the previous massacre.
"In a separate tragedy, the suspected killer in the Poway, California, synagogue shooting also posted a hate-filled 'open letter' on 8chan. 8chan has repeatedly proven itself to be a cesspool of hate."
Mr Prince explained that 8chan was one of more than 19 million "internet properties" which use his company's content distribution network (CDN) services, which protect against denial of service attacks.
When an error in the company's security system cropped up earlier this year it ended up leading to thousands of popular websites being taken down.
Although removal of the site from Cloudflare's services appears to have led to it immediately being inaccessible, it will not permanently take the site offline.
8chan's current administrator wrote on Twitter: "All our domains have been removed from Cloudflare, so we will be moving to another service asap. Please excuse any downtime as we migrate to the new service."
He announced 8chan's intention to move to BitMitigate for its CDN services, a US-based company which pledges to operate "in the fullest consistency to free speech".
Frederick Brennan, 8chan site's founder and former administrator - before leaving in 2016 - has distanced himself from the current administrator and the conduct of the image board's users.
On Twitter he criticised the site's strapline "embrace infamy" and asked the current administrator whether he found the constant shootings funny.
Mr Prince explained his "rationale" for the decision to remove his company's protection for 8chan, stating: "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."
- What is 8chan?
It is an imageboard, a type of internet forum in which people primarily discuss topics using images attached to each of their posts rather than just text, which contains explicit and offensive material.
It is unaffiliated with the infamous imageboard 4chan although it shares the same culture of anonymity and format of image posting, and its name reflects this.
In practice its different boards focus on different topics, including video games and Japanese cartoons, anime, and politics.
Each of these boards feature a wide range of anonymous contributions and discussions, but those on its "politically incorrect" have become notorious for prominently including hate speech and antisemitic conspiracy theories, as well as an abundance of slurs towards minority ethnic and sexual groups - all of which is protected under the first amendment to the US constitution.
8chan has been the subject of numerous scandals, including hosting child abuse material, serving as the platform to organise the harassment of female games developers during Gamergate, and for its involvement in so-called swatting attacks - where people make false reports to police in order for them to be targeted by SWAT teams.
- What is it used for?
Image boards have historically been used to discuss anime, originating with the 2chan image board founded in 2001.
However, the lack of moderation on English-language site 4chan meant that they developed a particular kind of lawless culture, and historically were where many internet memes originated.
However, in recent years they have become exceptionally controversial, particularly due to harassment campaigns and alleged raiding activities carried out by the alt-right.
- Right-wing extremism
The most popular board on 8chan is its "politically incorrect" board. Although other boards exist discussing video games, anime, and pornography, the role of the politically incorrect board on both 8chan and 4chan has been the subject of much scrutiny by academics.
Speaking to Sky News in 2017, one academic researcher who had analysed the role of so-called "politically incorrect" boards in online hate speech, said that they had a significant effect on attacks on other websites.
Speaking to Sky News at the time of the Christchurch terror attack, Jacob Davey, who leads research into the far-right for the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, said: "The use of 8chan's politically incorrect board is significant to this instance.
"8chan is a platform which is intimately connected to the global alt-right movement, as well as being one of the engine rooms of internet culture.
"By broadcasting to 8chan the attacker was ensuring that he was reaching an audience with whom his messaging would resonate the most.
"The attacker directly referenced internet culture throughout his attack and in his post forewarning of it.
"This shows a deep and dark awareness of the powerful subculture that the extreme right have built, which revolves around platforms such as 8chan."
Mr Davey explained that the far-right was making "a concerted effort to weaponise internet culture in an explicit attempt to radicalise young people".
"There is a burgeoning alternative social media space revolving around platforms such as Voat, Gab and 8chan," he said.
"This wild west is often un-regulated, and un-moderated, and indeed some platforms are explicitly set up for the purpose of sharing hateful, racist material. There needs to be a greater consideration of what to do with these platforms."
- Were there connections to violence?
The site claims to have one global rule, that users: "Do not post, request, or link to any content that is illegal in the United States of America and do not create boards with the purpose of posting or spreading such content."
This means that much of the content is protected by US free speech laws, although it could be considered illegal in other jurisdictions such as the UK.
Among the most contentious areas of debate of US law are what actually constitutes incitement to violence.
In the hundreds of messages posted about the multiple shootings which have been advertised and celebrated on the website, many express respect and apparent endorsement of the terror attack with Nazi imagery and antisemitic language.