8chan was never shy about their goal for a "dark" web experience.


Anonymous message board 8chan has been known to harbor users with extreme views.

Via Wikipedia:


The site has been linked to harmful internet subcultures and activism, as well as to multiple mass shootings in the United States and New Zealand. The site is also known for its presence of child pornography, and as a result is removed from Google Search.


Today, after several outages, 8chan was cut off by their web service provider.


The shutdown comes after the Associated Press Reports the El Paso shooting may have been preceded by an online screed. 


 About 20 minutes before the shooting started at an El Paso Walmart, a rambling screed was posted to an online message board saying the massacre was in response to an “invasion” of Hispanics coming across the southern border....


Investigators increasingly believe these are the words of 21-year-old suspect Patrick Crusius


The CEO of Cloudflare, the site's previous provider issued a statement on their blog.


The mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio are horrific tragedies. In the case of the El Paso shooting, the suspected terrorist gunman appears to have been inspired by the forum website known as 8chan. 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.



The New York Times reports Fredrick Brennan, the creator of 8chan is on board with a shutdown. 


“Shut the site down,” Mr. 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 realize it.”


There is a debate on the efficacy of the shutdown.


Some 8chan users are already returning to 4chan.