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8chan / 8kun

From Chan Top List, the imageboard wiki.

8chan, later relaunched as 8kun, is an English-language imageboard founded in October 2013 by software developer Fredrick Brennan. Its defining feature was that any registered user could create and moderate their own board, producing thousands of micro-communities. The site grew dramatically during the 2014 'Gamergate' controversy after 4chan banned related discussion, and again in subsequent years as a host for the QAnon conspiracy theory.

Founding and growth

Brennan launched 8chan with the explicit goal of providing a free-speech alternative to 4chan, which he viewed as overly moderated. Ownership transferred in 2015 to Jim Watkins, an American businessman based in the Philippines, with operational control passing to his son Ron Watkins.

2019 deplatforming

After three mass shootings in 2019 whose perpetrators posted manifestos on the site, 8chan lost its content delivery and DDoS protection providers and went offline. Brennan, who had left the company years earlier, publicly called for the site to be shut down. The site relaunched in November 2019 under the name 8kun on different infrastructure.

QAnon

8chan and 8kun were the primary publication venues for the QAnon conspiracy theory between 2018 and 2020. Investigative journalism and forensic linguistics analyses have examined the site's role in spreading the theory, and the platform has been a frequent subject of academic study on online radicalization.

See also

  • 4chan — English-language imageboard founded in 2003, modeled on Japan's Futaba Channel. One of the most influential sites in internet culture.
  • /pol/ — Politically Incorrect, a 4chan board created in 2011. One of the most-studied venues in research on online political subcultures.
  • Imageboard Software — Survey of the open-source scripts that have powered most imageboards since 2001: Futallaby, Wakaba, Kusaba, vichan, lynxchan.
  • Anonymous (collective) — Loosely organized hacktivist movement that emerged from 4chan in the late 2000s, famous for Project Chanology.

This page was last updated on April 29, 2026.