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After Mass Shootings, Tech Industry Shuns 8chan

Michelle Quinn

   SAN FRANCISCO - First, it lost its internet security provider.

   Then, another company cut off its new internet host.

   In less than 24 hours, 8chan, the online forum that the suspect in the
   El Paso mass shooting allegedly used to post some of his extremist
   thoughts, was struggling to keep its lights on.

   8chan's situation highlights how the technology industry, long touting
   itself as proponents of free speech, has been reevaluating its approach
   to extremist content published by users.

   There are few laws in the U.S. curtailing digital hate speech or
   incitement to violence online. Social media firms like Facebook,
   Google's YouTube and Twitter now routinely revamp their rules and boost
   new efforts at moderating the content on their sites. Just last month,
   Twitter said it would use human moderators to evaluate if a post
   "dehumanizes others on the basis of religion."

   What happened to 8chan in the 24 hours after the El Paso shooting shows
   how smaller, lesser-known companies that control the pipes of the
   internet -- what sites get seen, whether online traffic is routed
   correctly and how websites are protected from cyberattacks -- are being
   pressured to set new limits, even though they do not interact directly
   with people posting content.

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