Website popular with extremists goes offline after mass shootings in US
Moscow, Aug 5 (Sputnik/UNI) The imageboard 8chan, popular with white supremacists, is offline after the firm responsible for its Internet security canceled its services following two mass shootings in the United States.
Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince said the decision to terminate its services for the notorious website, a forum where users exchange images, was linked to attacks in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio in which 29 people were killed and dozens injured in less than a day.
"We just sent notice we are terminating service for 8chan. There comes a time when enough is enough. But this isn't the end. We need to have a broader conversation about addressing the root causes of hate online," Prince tweeted.
The shooting in El Paso by what appears to be a white supremacist is being treated as domestic terrorism. The killer reportedly posted an anti-migrant manifesto on 8chan shortly before opening fire inside a crowded Walmart on Saturday.
The Internet service company said there was a similar occurrence on 8chan before the terror attacks inside a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand and a synagogue in Poway, California. These incidents were celebrated by 8chan users.
"The El Paso shooter specifically referenced the Christchurch incident and appears to have been inspired by the largely unmoderated discussions on 8chan which glorified the previous massacre … 8chan has repeatedly proven itself to be a cesspool of hate," the statement read.
The controversial website is expected to be back online after moving to a new service provider. Cloudflare said it realized that by removing 8chan from its network, it only took the heat off of itself while doing nothing to address why hateful sites fester online, and shootings continue to happen.
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