8chan owned by Jim Watkins
History
8chan was created in October 2013 by computer programmer Fredrick Brennan. Brennan created the website after observing what he perceived to be rapidly escalating surveillance and a loss of free speech on the Internet. Brennan, who considered the imageboard 4chan to have grown into authoritarianism, described 8chan as a "free-speech-friendly" alternative, and originally conceptualized the site while experiencing a psychedelic mushrooms trip.No experience or programming knowledge is necessary for users to create their own boards. Since as early as March 2014, its FAQ has stated only one rule that is to be globally enforced: "Do not post, request, or link to any content illegal in the United States of America. Do not create boards with the sole purpose of posting or spreading such content." Brennan claimed that, while he found some of the content posted by users to be "reprehensible", he felt personally obligated to uphold the site's integrity by tolerating discussion he did not necessarily support regardless of his moral stance.Brennan agreed to partner 8chan with the Japanese message board 2channel, and subsequently relocated to the Philippines in October 2014.In January 2015, the site changed its domain after multiple people filed reports complaining to 8chan's registrar that the message board hosted child pornography. Despite subsequently regaining the original domain, the site remained at the new domain with the old domain redirecting to it.Numerous bugs in the Infinity software led to the funding and development of a successor platform dubbed "Infinity Next". After a several-month-long testing period, a migration to the new software was attempted in December 2015, but failed. In January 2016, development was halted, and the main developer, Joshua Moon, was fired by Brennan. Brennan himself officially resigned in July 2016, turning the site over to its owner, Jim Watkins and his son, Ron Watkins. He cited the failure of the "Infinity Next" project and disillusionment with what 8chan had become as reasons.