The internet's most notorious community, 4chan, is struggling to stay afloat, according to the site's owner

The controversial message board site allows people to post messages and photos anonymously.

"We had tried to keep 4chan as is. But I failed. I am sincerely sorry," Hiroyuki Nishimura wrote in a post to the site on Sunday.

Mr Nishimura said ads have not been enough to support the site, which is struggling with infrastructure and server costs as well as network fees.

The message board gained notoriety when its 'volunteers' hacked Time Magazine's Most Influential Person of 2008 poll by making moot the winner and engineering votes to spell out a phrase representing 4Chan in-jokes.

But it is perhaps most well-known for sparking international outrage in 2014, when explicit images purporting to feature high-profile female actresses, models and athletes were posted on the site.

Three possible options have been flagged for the site's survival — sell more subscriptions, include "more", potentially malicious, ads, or reduce traffic to the site.

The last option, according to Mr Nishimura, may include closing message boards, slowing down the site, or reducing the size of images that can be posted.

Christopher Poole, who developed 4chan, sold the site last year, stating the site had "faced numerous challenges over the years", which included ensuring it had enough "financial resources to continue operating".

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Former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli, who caused outrage last year after his business raised the price of HIV drug Daraprim to US$750 a pill, offered his assistance to the site in a tweet yesterday.

Mr Nishimura responded, thanking Mr Shkreli for "supporting 4chan".