4chan
Latest
AI trained on 4chan's most hateful board is just as toxic as you'd expect
A YouTube creator trained an AI on 4chan's most hate-filled board, and it was exactly as vile as you imagine.
New Jersey Attorney General also investigating Discord and Twitch after Buffalo shooting
Following New York's lead, New Jersey’s Acting Attorney General has launched a probe into Twitch and Discord's role in the events of May 14.
New York State AG investigates Discord, Twitch roles in Buffalo mass shooting
New York State is launching an investigation into the roles Discord, Twitch and other sites may have played in the Buffalo mass shooting.
Something Awful founder Richard Kyanka dies at 45
The creator of the influential website Something Awful, Richard 'Lowtax' Kyanka, has died at 45.
Germany synagogue shooter livestreamed attack on Twitch (updated)
Unfortunately, mass shooters are still livestreaming their attacks. Twitch has confirmed to CNBC that the shooter who attacked a synagogue in Halle, Germany was broadcasting the murders on its service. The company has pulled the 35-minute clip and reiterated its "zero-tolerance" policies against hate and violence, adding that it would ban anyone trying to repost the material.
New Zealand ISPs block websites hosting Christchurch shooting video
Internet providers in New Zealand aren't relying solely on companies like Facebook and YouTube to get rid of the Christchurch mass shooter's video. Major ISPs in the country, including Vodafone, Spark and Vocus, are working together to block access at the DNS level to websites that don't quickly respond to video takedown requests. The move quickly cut off access to multiple sites, including 4chan, 8chan (where the shooter was a member), LiveLeak and file transfer site Mega. The block goes away the moment a site complies, and Vodafone told Bleeping Computer that a "number of sites" were unblocked that way.
Trolls threaten laid off reporters in coordinated online campaign
Unfortunately, sustained online harassment campaigns are still a reality. NBC News has learned that trolls have launched a coordinated threat campaign against BuzzFeed and Huffington Post (owned by Engadget parent Verizon) journalists recently let go as part of layoffs. They appear to have originated from 4chan and used the same far-right memes before launching into racist and sexist slurs as well as death threats. The attackers have largely targeted writers on social networks like Twitter and Instagram, although they've also used email and even PayPal.
Dear tech: Stop doing business with Nazis
Kicking Nazis off tech companies' services is so easy, and such a simple thing to do. It is such a basic act of human decency, a trivial task that would stop PayPal, Stripe, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, GoDaddy and many more from being unquestionably complicit in the deadly rise of American Naziism. Stakes climb as we approach next week's elections. And yet.
After Las Vegas shooting, Facebook and Google get the news wrong again
The worst mass shooting in modern US history took place last night in Las Vegas, where a gunman killed at least 58 people and injured more than 515 others, according to the latest reports. Not long after the unfortunate event, Facebook and Google began populating news stories on their respective platforms, as they often do. And, in what's become a problematic trend, some of the articles being highlighted and distributed to millions of people were from unreliable sources. This time, among them were a trolling thread on internet forum board 4chan and a completely false story from a far-right conspiracy website.
Pepe the Frog is dead, but that won't stop 4chan
You have to sympathize with Matt Furie. The Boy's Club artist created Pepe the Frog as a positive, mellow character, but the amphibian got hijacked by the "alt-right" and became virtually synonymous with bigotry despite attempts to save him. So now, Furie is taking the next logical step: he's declaring Pepe dead. If you picked up Fantagraphics' Free Comic Book Day offering on May 6th, you saw a strip where Boy's Club characters mourned Pepe as he rested in an open casket. It's no doubt a hard decision for Furie (would you want to kill one of your cherished characters?), but arguably an important one -- he's effectively acknowledging that the internet has taken control of his creation.
4chan might have knocked out Hillary Clinton call centers yesterday
It shouldn't come as a shock that many denizens of internet cesspool 4chan are fans of Donald Trump. So it's also not a huge surprise that one 4chan user apparently took it upon himself to disrupt a segment of Hillary Clinton's get out the vote call centers. As reported by The Verge, workers with NextGen Climate (a group dedicated to raising awareness to climate change issues) noticed problems with their automated calling program yesterday -- it got slower and eventually would cut out for hours at a time.
Expect more vote suppressing misinformation on Election Day
While the internet is filled with sources providing accurate and unbiased information aimed at getting informed voters to the polls on Tuesday, some corners of it are taking an alternate approach. A Buzzfeed report cites 4chan posters cooking up various memes and campaign-lookalike graphics intended to confuse and mislead potential Hillary Clinton voters. We've seen a preview of this with Twitter ads that promoted a "vote by text message" hoax and it appears there could be similar efforts in store for tomorrow.
4Chan may have wiped Clinton campaign chief's iPhone
Hillary Clinton's campaign chief, John Podesta, might be having a particularly lousy week. In the wake of WikiLeaks dumps revealing Podesta's email and the sensitive account details inside, intruders (apparently from 4Chan's /pol board) claim to have hijacked his iCloud account and wiped his iOS devices. They may have been the ones who briefly compromised his Twitter account, too. Podesta's social account is back in running order, but it's not certain what happened to his iPhone and iPad.
Internet dumpster fire 4chan is going broke
The polarizing poster child for the wonders and woes of free speech on the Internet, 4chan, is enduring tough times. With ad revenue drying up, it faces an existential dilemma to change or die. Last Sunday, the site's owner Hiroyuki Nishimura broke the news to his congregation in a post that it can't afford all the infrastructure, network and server expenses needed to keep it running. Whether or not they take action, 4chan as we know it may be done.
'Candid,' the anonymous chat app, enforces civility with AI
If Twitter, 4Chan and Reddit are any indication, people will exploit even the barest of anonymization to be complete and utter asshats online. Just look at the recent attacks against Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones, or Reddit's self-induced purge of racist, xenophobic and bigoted chat groups. Fully anonymized social services like Whisper or Yik Yak, where unidentifiable mobs can unceasingly bully other users, are no better. An app called Candid, which launches today, is designed to fight this unacceptable online behavior with artificial intelligence.
Google hires the creator of 4chan
It didn't take long for 4chan creator Chris Poole (better known as Moot) to find a new home after selling his brainchild. Google has hired Poole to take advantage of his 12 years of experience "building online communities." It's not clear exactly what he'll do. However, it wouldn't be surprising if he gives Google+ a boost, improving its recent focus on community and giving you more reasons to visit.
4chan sells to the founder of the site that inspired it
If you know your internet message board history, you know that Chris Poole's legendary 4chan was inspired by 2channel, a board dedicated to anime and other aspects of Japanese culture. Well, things are about to come full circle: Poole (aka Moot) just sold 4chan to Hiroyuki Nishimura, 2channel's founder and the current editor in chief for Variety Japan. The terms of the deal aren't public, but Poole notes to the New York Times that there's a "lot of opportunity" to grow his site with the "right resources." That wouldn't be hard. Unlike some other community mainstays, such as Reddit, 4chan has never really been run as a full-fledged business.
4chan creator Moot steps down after more than a decade
When Christopher Poole founded messaging board 4chan 11 and a half years ago, he was just a 15-year-old kid. Now, he's stepping down an adult with a Ph.D. (in large-scale community management, which fits him well) and more than a decade of experience running (by himself!) one of the most notorious online destinations. Poole is more widely known as "Moot," the pseudonym he uses around the internet, even to post updates about 4chan's current state of affairs, the most recent of which is his resignation. Over the years, we've seen him talk about many, many things, more than once discussing 4chan's financial woes. See, despite the website's size, it doesn't have backers and major advertisers: It relies mostly on banner ads with occasional donation drives during especially lean times.
Dear wannabe Bitcoin miners: If it seems too good to be true, it's probably 4Chan
The allure of Bitcoin is understandable. In the past, the digital currency's price has fluctuated wildly, growing in value at an incredible rate. What does a Bitcoin currently cost? It changes by the hour. And outside of buying them at market rates, the only way to get Bitcoins is a complicated mining process. As with any gold rush, there are always suckers to be found, and the pranksters at 4chan are always ready to mess with them. Today, the denizens of 4chan's infamous /b/ board, an anarchist playground for horrific images and incredibly cruel jokes, released the image you see above. It purports to tell users how to unlock a secret Bitcoin mining program in the Mac OS. Instead, it directs them to delete essential files on their computer, effectively killing the machine. 4chan is in no way safe for work, so take that into consideration before Google searching the site. The Daily Dot was able to find a few users who were dumb enough to try unsolicited secret money-making information they found on the internet. So here's our helpful three-step guide for not getting tricked into bricking your own computer. 1. When you discover something online that's too good to be true, stop and think before acting. 2. Don't worry about thinking with your gut. Do a Google search and see if a reputable source has replicated the results. If not, leave well enough alone unless it's a neat lifehack for crisping potatoes. 3. If the original source of information was an infographic you saw online and it's not just a neat lifehack for crisping potatoes, skip step 2 and simply don't take the advice. Stay safe out there.
No, iOS 7 does not make your phone magically waterproof
Ah, the merry pranksters of the interwebs: your gleeful enthusiasm for messing with people shall never fade. It seems some of the jokers on Reddit and other corners of the web have taken it upon themselves to convince other people -- perhaps slightly less technically savvy -- that among iOS 7's many new features is a resistance to immersion in water. No, really. See the impressive graphic above. That took some effort. As pointed out in a few places, the idea that a software update could magically bestow water resistance on hardware is a bit farfetched, but unfortunately that didn't stop some folks from going ahead and testing it out. Ouch. So that there's no confusion: this is false. It is fake. It is a hoax. iOS 7 does not make your phone water-resistant. Have a nice Monday! Thanks, Oscar! [Want to help your friends and family learn the real story about the new iPhone OS? Send them a link to our Don't Panic Guide to iOS 7. -- Ed.]
