Cloudflare will stop service to 8chan, which CEO Matthew Prince …

Website infrastructure and security services provider Cloudflare will stop serving 8chan, Matthew Prince wrote in a blog post, describing the site as a “cesspool of hate.” Service will end at midnight Pacific Time.

“The reason is simple: they have shown that they are lawless and that lawlessness has caused multiple tragic deaths,” Prince wrote. “Even if 8chan They may not have violated the letter of the law by refusing to moderate their hate-filled community, they have created an environment that delights in violating its spirit. “

The decision was made after the suspect in this weekend’s mass shooting in El Paso published a lengthy racist and anti-immigrant “manifesto” to 8chan almost immediately before the attack, which killed at least 20 people. Federal authorities are treating the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and the Justice Department is also considering bringing federal hate crime and firearms charges, potentially carrying the death penalty, against the shooter.

8chan was also used by the perpetrator in the March terrorist attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, as well as by the suspect in the April shooting at a synagogue in Poway, California.

“The El Paso shooter made specific reference to the Christchurch incident and appears to have been inspired by the largely moderate discussions about 8chan that glorified the earlier massacre,” Prince wrote. “In another tragedy, the alleged killer in the Poway, California synagogue shooting also posted a hateful ‘open letter’ on 8chan. 8chan has repeatedly proven to be a cesspool of hate.”

Before Cloudflare announced his decision to terminate service to 8chan, Prince spoke to reporters from The Guardian and the New York Times, telling him he wanted to “kick 8chan off our network”, but also (in the subsequent interview with the New York Times), expressing doubts because the termination of the service may make it difficult for law enforcement officials to access the information on the site.

In his blog post, Prince explained Cloudflare’s final decision to cut service, writing that more than 19 million internet properties use Cloudflare and the company’s services “[did] don’t make this decision lightly. “

“We grudgingly tolerate content we consider objectionable, but we draw the line on platforms that have been shown to directly inspire tragic events and are illegal by design. 8chan has crossed that line, “he wrote.” Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to use our services. “

This is not the first time Cloudflare has cut service to a site to allow the spread of racism and violence. Cloudflare previously terminated service to the white supremacist site Daily Stormer in August 2017, but noted that the site came back online after switching to a Cloudflare competitor. “Today the Daily Stormer is still out there and it’s still gross. They have boasted of having more readers than ever. They are no longer Cloudflare’s problem, but they are still the Internet’s problem, “Prince wrote.

Prince says he sees the situation with 8chan playing similarly. Since the Daily Stormer’s service ended, Prince says that Cloudflare has worked with law enforcement and civil society organizations, resulting in the company “cooperating to monitor potential hate sites on our network and notify law enforcement when there is content that contains a legal process for sharing information when hopefully we can prevent horrible acts of violence. “

But Prince added that the company “continues[s] feel incredibly uncomfortable playing the role of content arbiter and not planning to play it frequently, “adding that this is not” due to some conception of the United States First Amendment, “as Cloudflare is a private company (and the most of its clients, and more than half of its income, are outside the United States).

Instead, Cloudflare “will continue to engage with legislators around the world as they set the limits of what is acceptable in those countries through due process of law. And we will comply with those limits when and where they are established ”.

Cloudflare’s decision may heighten scrutiny on Amazon, as 8chan operator Jim Watkins sells audiobooks on Amazon.com and Audible, creating what the Daily Beast calls “its financial lifeline for the outside world.”