seen from China
seen from Brazil
seen from Brazil
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Iraq
seen from Singapore
seen from United States
seen from Ireland
seen from China
seen from Canada
seen from Netherlands
seen from Germany
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Malaysia
seen from Italy
seen from United States
seen from France
THE ANTISOCIAL NETWORK: MEMES TO MAYHEM
Merry web pranksters
Sparked a series of movements
Till it turned toxic
The funny thing about the Far Right is that there are actual receipts proving most of the seeming-conspiracies about how they operate. In this instance, paperwork that links Gamergate, Trumpism, QAnon, and mass shootings that have killed 70+ people worldwide.
Mostly because all of that is the work of one awful pornographer and his piece of shit son, and the the shitposting website they stole.
Journalist Robert Evans discusses the history of 8chan (and the growth of the Far Right online in general) with its reformed creator Fred Brennan (back in 2019).
Fred has successfully managed to keep 8chan from being revived. He was a 19 year old edgelord with debilitating brittle bone disease when he created it, and was basically abducted to the Philippines and manipulated into making it a safe space for terrorists by a shadowy millionaire racist with a debilitating persecution complex. If you have ever been an angry young person on the Internet, you should listen to this and reflect.
Alex Kaplan at MMFA:
Ron Watkins, one of the heads of a far-right message board site known for hosting the account behind the QAnon conspiracy theory, is now trying to spread false conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election, and his claims have been promoted by President Donald Trump himself. His father, Jim Watkins, who has actively exploited QAnon as the owner of the site 8kun, appears to be trying to capitalize on his son’s newfound popularity to promote the site as well.
8kun is an anonymous message board site previously known as 8chan that was founded to allow for more user freedom than fellow far-right message board site 4chan supposedly provided. The site first became popular back in 2014 due to “Gamergate,” a misogynistic harassment campaign against women in gaming. In 2019, the site was knocked offline for months for hosting the manifestos of multiple alleged white nationalist shooters, later relaunching as 8kun.
8chan/8kun has also been the main hub for the QAnon conspiracy theory, which has been tied to multiple violent acts and labeled by the FBI as a potential domestic terrorist threat, with “Q,” the conspiracy theory’s central figure, posting on the site. (8chan founder Frederick Brennan has also alleged that “Q” has corresponded with both Jim and Ron Watkins, who he said assist “Q” in order to keep it on their site.)
Ron Watkins -- who lives in Japan and served as 8kun’s administrator, though he claimed last fall that he had resigned -- has used Twitter since the election to relentlessly push voter fraud conspiracy theories, particularly the false claim that voting machine company Dominion Voting Systems created and stole votes for President-elect Joe Biden. As part of this campaign, he has encouraged his followers to harass Dominion facilities in Georgia and teamed up with a QAnon influencer to post video he falsely claimed showed wrongdoing by a Dominion employee. The video caused people to send death threats to the employee. He also helped spread a QAnon-connected hashtag urging Trump to overturn the election via martial law.
[...]
This isn’t the first time Jim Watkins has tried to grift off of conspiracy theories and harassment campaigns. Besides hosting a message board dedicated to “Q” on his site, he has also been an active participant in the conspiracy theory -- wearing a “Q” pin, attending QAnon events, and co-founding a QAnon super PAC that has run paid ads on 8kun. Jim Watkins also has a business relationship with the hosting company for QAnon aggregator sites that give 8kun most of its traffic. (Jim Watkins also runs a company hosting apparent child pornography domains, while 8chan/8kun users have shared child pornography on the site.)
8kun (formerly 8chan) owner and admin duo Jim and Ron Watkins, who have harbored the QAnon delusion cult, are driving far-right conspiracies about the 2020 election outcome.
Fredrick Brennan, the founder of 8Chan, said that the operators of the infamous internet forum 8chan were in regular contact with the person or people responsible for the pro-Trump QAnon phenomenon, and implemented design changes …
Jared Holt at RWW:
Fredrick Brennan, the founder of 8chan, said that the operators of the infamous internet forum 8chan were in regular contact with the person or people responsible for the pro-Trump QAnon phenomenon, and implemented design changes to the forum board on their behalf.
The conspiracy theories comprising the QAnon phenomenon allege that President Trump is secretly dismantling a global satanic pedophile ring that involves top Democrats, Hollywood stars, and business leaders. Followers of QAnon believe that a Trump administration official with a special security clearance has been posting cryptic riddles on 8chan for them to decode, supposedly revealing details about Trump’s secret grand plan. Right-wing media personalities and advocates continue to push the conspiracy theory’s legitimacy, despite the body count associated with its following.
During an interview on QAnon Anonymous, a podcast that critically examines QAnon and other conspiracy theories, Brennan said that the person or people writing posts under the moniker “Q” had communicated with the father and son who ran 8chan until the site went dark earlier this month. According to Brennan, Q requested additional features and design changes be made to 8chan, to which the website’s owner Jim Watkins and administrator Ron Watkins reportedly agreed. Brennan said that because he had a better understanding of the mechanics of 8chan, he was asked to implement design changes. Watkins had also asked writers for 8chan’s blog, The Goldwater, to author pro-QAnon articles, Brennan said.
[...]
Since multiple acts of racist mass murder were linked to 8chan, Brennan has become an outspoken critic of 8chan. Brennan gave up control of the site in 2015 and stopped working with 8chan last year, according to The New York Times.
From the 08.25.2019 edition of QAnon Anonymous:
