(JTA) — 8Chan, the conspiracy theory message board that featured the racist manifesto allegedly written by the El Paso shooter and also the anti-Semitic statement by the Poway synagogue shooter, has been dropped from its network.
The Cloudflare digital security and infrastructure company terminated its services to what has become an electronic home for extremists.
The announcement comes almost exactly two years after Cloudflare kicked the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer off its network.
About 20 minutes before Saturday’s attack in Texas, a four-page manifesto allegedly written by the shooter was posted on 8Chan, which is unmoderated. He wrote disparagingly about Hispanic immigration to the United States and in support of the Christchurch mosque shooter in New Zealand who also posted on 8Chan.
The Poway synagogue shooter had cited the Christchurch mosque shooting and the attack on the Tree of Life synagogue building in Pittsburgh as motivations for his attack.
Cloudflare Chief Executive Matthew Prince in a statement announcing the removal of 8Chan said he is concerned that it will have little effect. He noted that the Daily Stormer quickly came back online using a Cloudflare competitor and has “more readers than ever.”
“I have little doubt we’ll see the same happen with 8chan” he said. “While removing 8chan from our network takes heat off of us, it does nothing to address why hateful sites fester online. It does nothing to address why mass shootings occur.”
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