Anonymous message board 8chan used by Texas gunman operates from the Philippines
MANILA, Philippines — An online message board, which has been the go-to of violent extremists, is being operated from the Philippines.
Following the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas over the weekend, 8chan creator Fredrick Brennan called for the shutdown of the site which has become a breeding ground for violence, the New York Times reported.
Prior to the El Paso shooting, which left at least 20 people dead, a user identifying himself as a gunman posted an announcement on 8chan.
In a four-page message, the author encouraged his "brothers" to "spread the contents far and wide."
Aside from the El Paso gunman, the persons behind the mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand and the synagogue shooting in Poway, California also announced their plans on 8chan.
Brennan founded 8chan in 2013 as an alternative to 4chan after it implemented policies to deter gamers from posting personal information and plan attacks.
According to an April 2016 report from news site Splinter, US Army veteran Jim Watkins first came into the picture in when 8chan kept on going offline due to exceeded bandwidth limits or its offensive content.
Watkins, who was already then residing in Manila and owns a pig farm outside the city, offered assistance to Brennan.
In October 2014, Brennan accepted the offer of Watkins and moved to the Philippines to work with the army veteran.
Watkins has been running 8chan from the Philippines since 2015 when Brennan gave control over the site.
Tom Riedl, former president of Watkins' company NT Technology, told Splinter that the company provided the domain name and hardware while Brennan took charge of the software and grew the community.
Brennan, however, had stopped working with Watkins in 2018 and has since distanced himself from 8chan and its current owners.
The 8chan creator has been calling for the message board to be taken offline before it leads to further violence, the New York Times reported.
"Shut the site down. It’s not doing the world any good. It’s a complete negative to everybody except the users that are there. And you know what? It’s a negative to them, too. They just don’t realize it," Brennan said in an interview.
Watkins, on the other hand, refuses to heed calls to moderate or shut the site down.
After the El Paso shooting last Saturday, Brennan tweeted, "Another 8chan shooting? ...Am I ever going to be able to move on with my life?"
Another 8chan shooting? Fuck me. Am I ever going to be able to move on with my life? Fuck you Jim Watkins. It will never make money, just do the world a favor and shut it off like you autistically threatened to do many times when I still gave a fuck
— Fredrick Brennan (@HW_BEAT_THAT) August 4, 2019
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