Extremism & social mediaAfter 8Chan
The notorious imageboard 8chan was taken offline in August 2019 after several far-right attacks revealed a connection to the site – most notably, the terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand in March 2019, which left 51 people dead. A few months later in November 2019, a site known as 8kun was launched as a replacement, boasting similar freedoms and owned by the same person, Jim Watkins. What is evident is that almost a year into 8kun’s creation, the general attitude towards the site is wholly different to that of 8chan – in that the primary audience it was created for has largely rejected it as a less important and relevant site within chan culture.
The notorious imageboard 8chan was taken offline in August 2019 after several far-right attacks revealed a connection to the site – most notably, the terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand in March 2019, which left 51 people dead. A few months later in November 2019, a site known as 8kun was launched as a replacement, boasting similar freedoms and owned by the same person, Jim Watkins.
The Rise of 8chan
8chan was founded in late 2013 by Fredrick Brennan and began to achieve popularity in 2014 by pitching itself as an alternative to the popular imageboard 4chan.
8chan boasted less oversight and subsequently more freedom for its users; its home page banner stating: “Welcome to 8chan, the Darkest Reaches of the Internet” as well as the slogan “Embrace infamy.”
The tone of its messaging was clear – 8chan was a place to be truly unfiltered.
According to Wired, user migration to 8chan was significant, going from roughly 10 posts a day in 2013 to around 5,000 an hour by the end of 2014.
Despite a disclaimer advising that content violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act or other United States laws would be deleted, the site quickly became a free for all, permitting racist, sexist and homophobic content, as well as graphic and offensive imagery, in particular on its /pol/ (politically incorrect) board.
A Spate of Far-Right Violence
In 2019, 8chan went from being a relatively parochial phenomenon – only really known and understood by those who were already embedded within chan cultures – to making global headlines in the aftermath of the March 2019 terrorist attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand.
The attacker, Brenton Tarrant, posted his final message to 8chan, in which he addressed the “lads” in a message informing the community of an imminent “attack against the invaders.” In addition to this, he linked to a Facebook live stream of the attacks along with his manifesto entitled ‘The Great Replacement’, in a nod to the popular far-right conspiracy theory which holds that indigenous European (white) populations are being replaced by non-European immigrants.
The attack on the Chabad of Poway synagogue in San Diego in April 2019 similarly implicated 8chan, with the attacker, John Earnest, posting to its /pol/ board and providing a link to his manifesto and a failed live stream of the attack. In this manifesto, Tarrant’s Christchurch attack was described as a “catalyst”.
