Far-right website 8chan terminated after US shootings

ANKARA

Far-right website 8chan used by white supremacists will be terminated Monday night, according to the CEO of Cloudflare, the Silicon Valley-based company that provides network to the notorious platform.

''We just sent notice we are terminating service for 8chan. There comes a time when enough is enough,'' said Matthew Prince on Twitter as he urges all sides to have a “broader conversation about addressing the root causes of hate online.''

''We just sent notice that we are terminating 8chan as a customer effective at midnight tonight Pacific Time [0700 GMT],'' he said, citing 8chan for causing multiple deaths by ''proven lawlessness''.

The decision to terminate the forum site where users often spew hate follows two mass shootings by white supremacists in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, last weekend which claimed 30 lives and injured dozens.

The El Paso shooter was apparently inspired by 8chan and posted a screed on the website shortly before beginning his attack in a Walmart store that killed 20 people.

Cloudflare has been long under fire for turning a blind eye to hateful content on 8chan.

Prince cited other mass shootings which were inspired by 8chan in his statement.

''Nearly the same thing happened on 8chan before the terror attack in Christchurch, New Zealand. 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,'' said Prince.

At least 51 Muslims were gunned down March 15 by Australian-born white supremacist Brenton Tarrant who has been slapped with 51 counts of murder and 40 attempted murder charges - along with that of the terrorism act.

''In a separate tragedy, the suspected killer in the Poway, California synagogue shooting also posted a hate-filled 'open letter' on 8chan. 8chan has repeatedly proven itself to be a cesspool of hate,'' he said in explaining his company's justification for terminating its services to 8chan.

He did voice concern, however, for the future, saying that such websites come back online quickly using other internet providers.

''Almost exactly two years ago we made the determination to kick another disgusting site off Cloudflare's network: the Daily Stormer. That caused a brief interruption in the site's operations but they quickly came back online using a Cloudflare competitor,'' he said as he urged governments to do more about internet safety.