8chan founder went from creating the site to calling for its shutdown

The computer programmer Fredrick Brennan started the online image board 8chan in 2013 as a space for uncensored speech, a place where anyone could anonymously post whatever they wanted without moderation. It didn t take long for the site to become known as one of the darkest corners of the internet — a haven for extremist and hateful content. It has since become a platform for mass shooters to vocalize and spread their ideas, prompting Brennan to call for the site to be shuttered. Shut the site down, Brennan said to The New York Times. It s not doing the world any good. It s a complete negative to everybody except the users that are there. And you know what? It s a negative to them, too. They just don t realize it. 8chan has been linked to three mass shootings that took place this year, including the one in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday that left 20 people dead. Before the shooting, a racist manifesto appeared on 8chan, and police believe it was published by the shooting suspect. The attack was also celebrated on 8chan on Sunday, The Washington Post reported. Once again, a terrorist used 8chan to spread his message as he knew people would save it and spread it, Brennan said to The Washington Post. The board is a receptive audience for domestic terrorists. Brennan was not immediately available to comment when contacted by Business Insider. Cloudflare, the cybersecurity company that protected 8chan, announced that it had terminated its relationship with the website, prompting it to go offline. However, 8chan s site administrator has announced plans to move to BitMitigate, the same company that protected The Daily Stormer after Cloudflare ended its business with the neo-Nazi site in 2017, according to the BBC. Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/8chan...