Global Information8chan information
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Type of site | Imageboard |
|---|---|
| Available in | English (users can create language-specific boards) |
| Owner |
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| Created by | Fredrick Brennan |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Optional |
| Launched | October 22, 2013 |
| Current status | Active |
| Part of a series on |
| Antisemitism |
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 Category |
8kun, previously called 8chan, 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.[1] The site has been linked to white supremacism, neo-Nazism, the alt-right, racism and antisemitism, hate crimes, and multiple mass shootings.[2][3][4] The site has been known to host child pornography;[5][6] as a result, it was filtered out from Google Search in 2015.[7] Several of the site's boards played an active role in the Gamergate harassment campaign, encouraging Gamergate affiliates to frequent 8chan after 4chan banned the topic. 8chan is the origin and main center of activity of the discredited QAnon conspiracy theory.[8][9][10]
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.[3][11] In the aftermath of the back-to-back mass shootings on August 3 in El Paso and August 4 in Dayton, Ohio, respectively, the site was taken off 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, the site's new domain registrar, as well as Epik's CDN provider subsidiary BitMitigate, also terminated service.[12][13] 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.[14][15][16]
- ^ Brennan, Fredrick. "FAQ". null.net. Infinitechan. Retrieved November 23, 2014.[dead link]
- ^ Wong, Julia Carrie (August 4, 2019). "8chan: the far-right website linked to the rise in hate crimes". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on August 21, 2019. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
- ^ a b 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. Archived from the original on August 5, 2019. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
- ^ Mezzofiore, Gianluca; O'Sullivan, Donie (August 5, 2019). "El Paso shooting is at least the third atrocity linked to 8chan this year". CNN. Archived from the original on August 20, 2019. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
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- Guglielmi, Giorgia (October 28, 2020). "The next-generation bots interfering with the US election". Nature. 587 (7832): 21. Bibcode:2020Natur.587...21G. doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03034-5. PMID 33116324. S2CID 226052075.
- Neiwert, David (January 17, 2018). "Conspiracy meta-theory 'The Storm' pushes the 'alternative' envelope yet again". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
- Collins, Ben; Zadrozny, Brandy (August 10, 2018). "The far right is struggling to contain Qanon after giving it life". NBC News.
- Rosenberg, Eli (November 30, 2018). "Pence shares picture of himself meeting a SWAT officer with a QAnon conspiracy patch". The Washington Post.
- "Broward SWAT sergeant has unauthorized 'QAnon' conspiracy patch at airport with VP, report says". Sun-Sentinel. November 30, 2018.
- Moore, McKenna (August 1, 2018). "What You Need to Know About Far-Right Conspiracy QAnon". Fortune.
- Roose, Kevin (July 10, 2019). "Trump Rolls Out the Red Carpet for Right-Wing Social Media Trolls". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
- ^ Weill, Kelly (November 12, 2020). "QAnon's Home 8kun Is Imploding—and Q Has Gone Silent". The Daily Beast. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
- ^ Thomas, Elise (February 17, 2020). "Qanon Deploys 'Information Warfare' to Influence the 2020 Election". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
- ^ Collins, Ben (August 3, 2019). "Investigators 'reasonably confident' Texas suspect left anti-immigrant screed". NBC News. Archived from the original on August 7, 2019. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
- ^ Robertson, Adi (August 5, 2019). "8chan goes dark after hardware provider discontinues service". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 8, 2019. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
- ^ 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. Archived from the original on August 6, 2019. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
- ^ Conger, Kate (November 4, 2019). "It's Back: 8chan Returns Online". The New York Times. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
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