The 21-year-old suspect in the El Paso Walmart shooting, which resulted in the deaths of 20 people, is believed to have posted a white nationalist rant on 8chan before the attack, encouraging his “brothers” on the site to spread the contents.

In recent months, 8chan has increasingly become a go-to resource for violent extremists. The suspect in the Christchurch shooting back in March posted a link to his creed on the site and a link to his Facebook live feed. Furthermore, the suspect in a synagogue shooting in Poway, California, the following month, posted a racist and antisemitic letter on 8chan prior to the attack.

Cloudflare, which provided DDoS protection to 8chan to prevent the site being taken down by activists targeting the site, had resisted calls to cut ties with 8chan in the wake of the El Paso attack. However, on Monday, the company’s CEO, Matthew Prince, said in a blog post that 8chan would no longer get protection from Cloudflare as of midnight Pacific Time.

“The rationale is simple: they have proven themselves to be lawless and that lawlessness has caused multiple tragic deaths,” he said. “Even if 8chan may not have violated the letter of the law in refusing to moderate their hate-filled community, they have created an environment that revels in violating its spirit.”

Prince added that the decision to cut ties with the site had not been taken lightly.

“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,” he said. “It will therefore no longer be allowed to use our services.”

Prior to the company’s decision, Prince said that halting services for 8chan would not make the internet safer or reduce hate crime online.

“If I could wave a magic wand and make all of the bad things that are on the internet go away – and I personally would put the Daily Stormer and 8chan in that category of bad things – I would wave that magic wand tomorrow,” he said.

“It would be the easiest thing in the world and it would feel incredibly good for us to kick 8chan off our network, but I think it would step away from the obligation that we have and cause that community to still exist and be more lawless over time.”

Frederick Brennan, who is the founder of the 8chan website, started the online message board as a free speech utopia in 2013. The site has been described as a “megaphone for mass shooters” and a recruiting platform for violent white nationalists.

Brennan, who stopped working with the site’s current owner in 2018, called for it to be taken offline before it leads to further violence.

“Shut the site down,” Brennan said in an interview. “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 realise it.”

In 2017, following a far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Cloudfare stopped providing protection to explicitly fascist news site, the Daily Stormer. 

The 21-year-old suspect in the El Paso Walmart shooting, which resulted in the deaths of 20 people, is believed to have posted a white nationalist rant on 8chan before the attack, encouraging his “brothers” on the site to spread the contents.

In recent months, 8chan has increasingly become a go-to resource for violent extremists. The suspect in the Christchurch shooting back in March posted a link to his creed on the site and a link to his Facebook live feed. Furthermore, the suspect in a synagogue shooting in Poway, California, the following month, posted a racist and antisemitic letter on 8chan prior to the attack.

Cloudflare, which provided DDoS protection to 8chan to prevent the site being taken down by activists targeting the site, had resisted calls to cut ties with 8chan in the wake of the El Paso attack. However, on Monday, the company’s CEO, Matthew Prince, said in a blog post that 8chan would no longer get protection from Cloudflare as of midnight Pacific Time.

“The rationale is simple: they have proven themselves to be lawless and that lawlessness has caused multiple tragic deaths,” he said. “Even if 8chan may not have violated the letter of the law in refusing to moderate their hate-filled community, they have created an environment that revels in violating its spirit.”

Prince added that the decision to cut ties with the site had not been taken lightly.

“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,” he said. “It will therefore no longer be allowed to use our services.”

Prior to the company’s decision, Prince said that halting services for 8chan would not make the internet safer or reduce hate crime online.

“If I could wave a magic wand and make all of the bad things that are on the internet go away – and I personally would put the Daily Stormer and 8chan in that category of bad things – I would wave that magic wand tomorrow,” he said.

“It would be the easiest thing in the world and it would feel incredibly good for us to kick 8chan off our network, but I think it would step away from the obligation that we have and cause that community to still exist and be more lawless over time.”

Frederick Brennan, who is the founder of the 8chan website, started the online message board as a free speech utopia in 2013. The site has been described as a “megaphone for mass shooters” and a recruiting platform for violent white nationalists.

Brennan, who stopped working with the site’s current owner in 2018, called for it to be taken offline before it leads to further violence.

“Shut the site down,” Brennan said in an interview. “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 realise it.”

In 2017, following a far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Cloudfare stopped providing protection to explicitly fascist news site, the Daily Stormer.