The CEO of Cloudfare announced on Sunday that the U.S. company is terminating its services for 8chan following the deadly mass shooting in El Paso, Texas.
“In the case of the El Paso shooting, the suspected terrorist gunman appears to have been inspired by the forum website known as 8chan,” a company statement read. “Based on evidence we’ve seen, it appears that he posted a screed to the site immediately before beginning his terrifying attack on the El Paso Walmart killing 20 people.”
It continued, “We reluctantly tolerate content that we find reprehensible, but we draw the line at platforms that have demonstrated they directly inspire tragic events and are lawless by design. 8chan has crossed that line. It will therefore no longer be allowed to use our services.”
The decision comes after the suspect in the shooting allegedly wrote an anti-immigrant manifesto outlining a desire to stop the “Hispanic invasion of Texas,” which was posted to 8chan ahead of the attack. The gunman then proceeded to shoot and kill 20 people at a Walmart on Saturday, wounding over two dozen more.
“Nearly the same thing happened on 8chan before the terror attack in Christchurch, New Zealand,” the company said. “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.”
The site will lose DDoS protection at midnight Sunday. However, the company noted that the move may not mean the end of 8chan.
“Unfortunately the action we take today won’t fix hate online. It will almost certainly not even remove 8chan from the Internet. But it is the right thing to do,” it said.
Police are treating the shooting as domestic terrorism and are seeking the death penalty.
Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/cloudfare-pulls-support-for-8chan-after-el-paso-shooting
Comments