8chan down: White nationalist chat room goes dark in Australia

The battle against international race-hate social media sites extending their reach into Australia has begun, with accused NZ terrorist Brenton Tarrant’s favourite 8chan going dark.

Exclusive: Moves by Australian telcos to block access to accused terrorist Brenton Tarrant’s live-streamed massacre video have not prevented international message sites such as 8chan and Reddit from spawning a new flood of right-wing hatred.

On Friday afternoon, after two weeks of permitting free-running hate-speak, and with users still providing links to the 17-minute video, 8chan appeared to go suddenly dead in Australia.

8chan, which promises to take viewers to “the Darkest Reaches of the internet”, has been doing brisk traffic among white supremacists who, bizarrely, for the most part blame Israel for the Christchurch mosque attacks by claiming Tarrant was an agent of Mossad.

A spokesperson for Communications Minister Mitch Fifield said he had no immediate advice on the status of 8chan in Australia but said “there is an important role for ethical and fast responses from ISPs and platforms”.

A sample of posts on 8chan posted in response to the Christchurch terror attack.

8chan, American-owned but headquartered in the Philippines, started as a game site but quickly became known as the destination for fringe citizens to air extreme racist views, none of which are moderated.

In the aftermath of Christchurch, 8chan tweeted: “We always comply with US law and won’t comment further on this incident so as not to disrupt the ongoing investigation.”

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It followed that up several days later with another tweet advising users how to bypass blocks.

The common thread of logic among 8chan “OPs”, or original posters, is that Israel’s secret service Mossad created Tarrant as a “false flag” in order to murder Muslims with impunity.

A sample of posts on 8chan posted in response to the Christchurch terror attack.

There are persistent claims across thousands of offensive posts that Tarrant exhibited traits of being a victim of MK Ultra, which was a genuine secret CIA program from the 60s and 70s that sought to control the minds of subjects.

At the same time, many believe the footage is fake and that Tarrant’s 73-page manifesto was written by government agents, most likely from Israel.

“Brenton Tarrant is a hero,” wrote one who, like all posting on 8chan, remained anonymous. “No one will stop is killing our enemies. No weak or coward (sic) will survive. Those that prefer comfort over freedom must be killed.”

Tarrant is hailed as the “Hero of the West” and Jewish people — identified as the beneficiaries of the massacre — are referred to as “oven dodgers”.

A sample of posts on 8chan posted in response to the Christchurch terror attack.

Pauline Hanson’s claims, seen on a hidden Al Jazeera recording stating that the 1996 Port Arthur massacre by Martin Bryant left “lots of questions” due to the nature of the “precision shots”, is likewise seen as a “false flag” event among 8chan posters, who believe it never happened.

Reddit, which removed the video, has continued to permit supportive posts on Tarrant, though some users have attempted to corral his fans into a special section with warnings not to enter.

8chan commentators have turned on each other for being useless keyboard warriors who need to rise up to action.

Wrote one anonymous poster: “If you want people to believe you, you have to accomplish something. You haven’t. Brenton Tarrant did.”

White supremacist symbology, heroes and catch phrases emblazoned upon Christchurch mosque attack terrorist Brenton Tarrant’s ammunition holders, webbing and gear. Picture: Twitter

Originally published as 8chan down: White nationalist chat room goes dark in Australia