Several core features were ported over in the process. The infamous imageboard initially went down two weeks ago, scattering its anonymous denizens to the winds. It has now been largely restored, with users flocking back to their familiar fetid stomping grounds.
“This post is art”
A 2018 Southern Poverty Law Center report linked 4chan’s culture to online extremism. In 2021, the game Minecraft removed a long-standing reference to its gaming board due to its toxic reputation. According to a previous report from Reuters, the breach appears to have exposed internal systems, including moderator tools and identifying information. Screenshots allegedly showing 4chan’s backend infrastructure began circulating online, and a defunct section of the site briefly reappeared with the phrase “U GOT HACKED” across the top. Amanda Yeo is an Assistant Editor at Mashable, covering entertainment, culture, tech, science, and social good.
4chan is where lolcats, Rickrolls, Pepe the Frog, and Doge first gained traction. It helped incubate meme culture before the word “meme” went mainstream. Its /b/ (random) board was pure digital anarchy—a chaotic free-for-all that pioneered meme formats and image macros still used across Reddit, Twitter, and TikTok. One 4chan janitor told TechCrunch that the data appeared real and added, “Doxxing is a longstanding pastime on 4chan, and the possibility that we could be exposed has always been there.” Some believe the hack may have marked the end of the platform altogether. PC Gamer reported that “with every single user of note doxxed, the site’s servers decimated, and the admin team in disarray, it’s unlikely 4chan will be back up soon. Or ever.”
- To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Mind Your Money.
- Amanda Yeo is an Assistant Editor at Mashable, covering entertainment, culture, tech, science, and social good.
- The forum’s future was first called into question in 2022 when Elon Musk bought Twitter, a development that meant there was “really no point to 4chan anymore”, said Wired.
- In a rather dramatic turn that shocked little and yet stunned many, the notoriously lawless imageboard 4chan has reportedly been hacked.
- Now may be your last chance to lock in today’s high CD rates.
Launched in 2003, 4chan is an anonymous imageboard where users can post text and images across a wide range of topic boards — from video games and anime to politics and adult content. 4chan was created as an unofficial English-language counterpart to the Japanese imageboard Futaba Channel, also known as 2chan, and its first boards were originally used for posting images and discussion related to anime. While 4chan wasn’t created with any political agenda, boards like /pol/ (politically incorrect) evolved into ideological breeding grounds. What started as “edgy” humour—posting racist, anti-Semitic, or misogynist content for shock value—gradually morphed into serious political alignment among some users. 4chan, founded in 2003, was originally built as an anonymous hub for internet communities.
The Week
Based in Australia, she writes about everything from video games and K-pop to movies and gadgets. “While not all of our servers were breached, the most important one was, and it was due to simply not updating old operating systems and code in a timely fashion,” read 4chan’s blog on Friday. But understanding how 4chan went from the home of cat memes to a true internet bogeyman requires an understanding of how the site actually worked. Its features were often overlooked amid all the conversations about the site’s political influence, but I’d argue they were equally, if not more, important. “Websites like 4chan create a surrogate family, same way you can form one at a bar,” Arthur Jones, a documentary-maker, told The Guardian.
There are pros and cons to buying in each season and month of the year. The amount you can borrow with a HELOC depends on your home value, outstanding mortgage balance, and lender. The best mortgage lenders for low and no down payments have programs for low-income borrowers, down payment assistance, and more. The best reverse mortgage companies offer fast closings, flexible repayment options, and more. Find out which reverse mortgage lender is best for you.
Is 4chan gone? What happened to the notorious message board
Perhaps unsurprisingly, this led to existential issues for the forum. From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. In the end, this wasn’t a sinister act of censorship, but rather a bit of a mistake and a poorly executed, disproportionate response on AT&T’s part.
- Adobe first announced it would stop supporting Flash Player back in 2017, finally declaring that it had reached the end of its life in 2020.
- Ensure everyone in the group chat feels invited to the party, no matter what phone they use.
- It appears that the hack was a matter of when, not if.
- “The free time that 4chan’s development team had available to dedicate to 4chan was insufficient to update our software and infrastructure fast enough, and our luck ran out.”
- A 2018 Southern Poverty Law Center report linked 4chan’s culture to online extremism.
Best high-yield savings accounts
Even without the hack, the death of /f/ was a long time coming. Adobe first announced it would stop supporting Flash Player back in 2017, finally declaring that it had reached the end of its life in 2020. “Everything about this process took much longer than intended, which is a recurring theme in this debacle,” wrote 4chan.
See which banks currently offer 4% APY (or more) and open an account today. The best mortgage lenders for first-time buyers offer down payment assistance and quick loan approval. With a 0% APR intro offer on new purchases, you can avoid credit card interest for up to 21 months. These are the best zero-interest credit card offers today. 4chan was both the breeding ground of internet culture as we know it, and the cautionary tale of what happens when anonymity is weaponised.
It became a “virus” that “infected every facet” of life, from the “slang we use” to the politicians “we vote for”, he added. On November 17, 2018, it was announced that the site would be split into two, https://p1nup.in/ with the work-safe boards moved to a new domain, 4channel.org, while the NSFW boards would remain on the 4chan.org domain. In a rather dramatic turn that shocked little and yet stunned many, the notoriously lawless imageboard 4chan has reportedly been hacked. A long-dead board, /qa/, rose from the ashes, only to display a cryptic “U GOT HACKED” message.
The ability to upload PDFs is expected to return soon, having been temporarily disabled in light of this breach. Our feeds deliver us content; we don’t have to hunt for it. We don’t have to sit in front of a computer refreshing a page to find out whether we’re getting a new cat meme or a new manifesto. The humanness of that era of the web, now that 4chan is gone, is likely never coming back. And we’ll eventually find out if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude.
Estimate your monthly payments and see how much goes toward the principal amount, interest, taxes, and insurance with the mortgage calculator. Send any video and photo with full HD quality on WhatsApp. Keep the messages that matter most at the top of the chat by pinning up to 3 important messages in your group chats. Quickly get input and make a decision in the group chat with polls. And when you need more than words, GIFs, stickers, voice notes and more are all available, right within the chat.
But the ubiquity of 4chan culture ended up being an oddly Pyrrhic victory for the site itself. My first experience with the more toxic side of the site came several years after my LOLcat all-nighter, when I was in college. I was a big Tumblr user—all my friends were on there—and for about a year or so, our corner of the platform felt like an extension of the house parties we would throw.
Today – Cloudy with a high of 64 °F (17.8 °C) and a 44% chance of precipitation. Winds from SW to WSW at 17 to 19 mph (27.4 to 30.6 kph). Showers today with a high of 60 °F (15.6 °C) and a low of 46 °F (7.8 °C).
Over time, it became a well-known source of internet memes, trolling, and extreme political rhetoric. The site has also been connected to the early formation of Anonymous, the rise of the alt-right, and the spread of nonconsensual AI-generated content. But the site itself had been frozen in amber since the George W. Bush administration. According to PC Gamer, the hacker may have had access to 4chan’s systems for over a year before launching the attack.
The last rites are being read for one of the internet’s most controversial forums after it was hacked, reportedly by a rival internet faction. Get an edge on the competition with draft, trade and research tools and much more. Available on all platforms for all season-long fantasy games—football, basketball, hockey, and baseball. A mortgage preapproval will give you a good idea of your home loan options, price range, and how much your monthly payment might be. The best time of year to buy a house depends on your situation.
The digital blackout has erased, if only temporarily, one of the internet’s most controversial corners. Over the years, it’s been linked to various online movements, trolling campaigns, and controversial subcultures. In this way 4chan helped “birth” a variety of “domestic terrorists”, said Vice, as well as a “weaponised ideology of irony” powered by an ingrained sense of “nihilism” spawning “neo-Nazis, incels, and folks who identify as both”.
0 Comments