Is 4Chan down? Thousands experience outage as hacking speculation rises
Users reported the 4Chan outage on social media, claiming the leak of admin emails, chat logs and full database.
Thousands of users reported issues accessing 4Chan early Tuesday morning, as the controversial message board experienced a widespread outage. Users from the United States and United Kingdom were unable to connect to the site, as Downdetector reported over 1,200 complaints by 4a.m ET.
On social media, speculation arose claiming that hackers compromised 4Chan's security, leaking sensitive data such as internal emails, chat logs, and possibly the entire database. Some users feared that the site's source code had been exposed, potentially allowing unrestricted access to user information, including IP address.
Users claimed 4Chan outage in their service
Hundreds of 4Chan users have reported problems as of early Tuesday morning. The outage and rumors of a breach arrive at a time when tech platforms are increasingly targeted for their data or content moderation practices.
As 4Chan's history of controversial political content and user activity, any breach involving moderator identifies or communications could present significant risks, not only for the individuals involved but also for online safety as a whole.
On Reddit, some user claimed that a hacker had gained access to 4Chan's internal emails and was releasing private communications. This statement has not been verified by Newsweek.
What is 4Chan?
4Chan is an online message board founded in 2003 by Christopher Poole, who was 15 years old at the time. Initially created as a platform for anime and manga discussions within fandoms, the site evolved into one that is often viewed as a "breeding ground for the far right."
The site's most popular board, /pol/, is known for hosting far-right memes and rhetoric, which are frequently removed by moderators.
4Chan's first major controversy came in 2014 with the "Gamergate" movement, where users on the site propagated misogynistic messages and launched smear campaigns against women in the video game industry. Gamergate is considered a precursor to the radicalization of young men in far-right online spaces.
The controversy surrounding Gamergate also led to the creation of 8Chan, a separate site that has been used to stream mass shooting, the most popular were in Christchurch, New Zealand, and El Paso, Texas.
Poole left 4Chan in 2015, citing legal and financial pressures, especially after the site became associated with the leak of stolen nude photos of actresses from their iCloud accounts. He sold 4Chan to Hiroyuki Nishimura, the former operator of the rival site 2channel.