Screenshot Patrick Crusius police booking photo.
Cloudflare, often criticized for hosting 8Chan, shut the site down in the pre-dawn hours Monday. But no sooner did they shutter the site that it was picked up by BitMitigate, “World-class CDN. Bulletproof DDoS protection with a proven commitment to liberty.” Owned by Epik.com, it’s headed by Rob Monster who posted the Christchurch shooting video to another of the sites it hosts, Gab.
Epik claims it’s a “…protector of responsible Free Speech.”
8Chan, which describes itself as, “The Darkest Reaches of the Internet,” is indeed back up. It appears a motto is to “embrace infamy.” (And an hour after this post was published, it’s back down.)
Cloudflare chief Matthew Prince wrote 8Chan is a “cesspool of hate,” adding, “They are uniquely lawless and that lawlessness has contributed to multiple horrific tragedies. Enough is enough.”
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.
The white supremacist manifesto being investigated by the FBI and purported to have been authored by El Paso alleged domestic terrorist Patrick Crusius, being charged with the slaughter of 20 people including children and elderly at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, was uploaded to 8Chan right before the mass killing.
Prince wrote that Crusius “appears to have been inspired” by 8chan and, “based on evidence we’ve seen, it appears that he posted a screed to the site immediately before beginning his terrifying attack …”
Prince admitted that the posting of extreme racist and xenophobic so-called manifestos in advance of mass murders on 8Chan is “not an isolated incident.”
“Nearly the same thing happened on 8chan before the terror attack in Christchurch, New Zealand. 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. In a separate tragedy, the suspected killer in the Poway, California synagogue shooting also posted a hate-filled “open letter” on 8chan. 8chan has repeatedly proven itself to be a cesspool of hate.”
Read Price’s full statement here.
Meanwhile, 8Chan, which is known by it’s original name, InfinteChan with the 8 representing the infinity symbol, told its users “There might be some downtime in the next 24-48 hours while we find a solution (that includes our email so timely compliance with law enforcement requests may be affected).”
It appears in that tweet that 8Chan is claiming that its shuttering by Cloudflare means it won’t be able to provide what federal investigators are requesting in a “timely” manner.
On that tweet, hundreds ‘liked’ or retweeted claims that “nothing can stop what is coming.”
No sooner was that posted that it was reported 8Chan had found a home with BitMitigate.
Epik owner Rob Monster posted the Christchurch video to his Twitter account. He claims to be “enlightened,” and to “love everyone. Judge nobody.”
Hey @nzpolice, how can we help to let you know of people like Rob Monster who boasts about his distribution of the atrocious criminal #Christchurch video & writing via Gab ? I am not attaching the screenshot, don’t want to provide the link to anyone.
#LoveNotHate
Just so we’re all clear on Rob Monster…this is the guy who posted the #Christchurch mass shooting video to his Twitter feed. His company, Epik, is a giant choad of hate, and enables individuals to make the world a more horrific place.
This is a developing story and will be updated.