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We know the main suspect is a 28-year-old Australian white nationalist who hated immigrants, and sought “revenge” against Muslims. But what is 8chan and why did the killer choose this platform to announce himself?

Threads

Based on labyrinthine and anonymous comment threads, 8chan, which has allowed users to post child porn and pro-Nazi material, was founded by Fredrick Brennan, a user of similar site 4chan, in 2013. It is now owned by American Jim Watkins, who is said to be based in the Philippines.

Unlike Facebook, Twitter and other platforms, where users who post hate speech are often banned, 4chan and — to an even more extreme degree — 8chan are very light on moderation.

8chan was spawned by #GamerGate, a long-running episode in which forums were frequently used to “dox” and harass female video game enthusiasts who were pushing back against sexism in their industry.

When sites like 4chan belatedly clamped down on such hate-filled forums, Brennan began 8chan as a “free speech friendly 4chan alternative,” the Washington Post reported in 2015. The site became the second-biggest “imageboard” outlet, after 4chan.

These site types were originally used to discuss things like Japanese anime, but are now home to video game experts, Internet culture obsessives and the so-called alt-right. As 8chan grew more and more bilious, Brennan eventually partnered with computer expert Watkins after the site kept getting removed from funding sites such as Patreon for violating terms of use.