Kiwi Farms

Kiwi Farms is an immensely creepy stalking forum run by manchild Joshua Conner Moon out of his mom's house.Debunking Misinformation, a response to a recent Tumblr article The people who are stalked are what are known as "lolcows" to the site's userbase or "exceptional individuals". Think some of the Internet's worst assholes and coalition of criminalsWe used Josh's own words, of course. (archive) (original link) projecting their frustration onto minorities – and now that you're picturing GamerGate, think creepier.
Due to difficulties with enforcing anti-harmful speech legislation on the internet, there hasn't been much legal action taken on Kiwi Farms, despite them being responsible for harming many people (directly and indirectly), costing them jobs and partners, exaggerating and spinning rumors, or even mentally abusing their victims to the point of suicide. In fact, the owners maintain that there is nothing illegal about the site, citing technicalities (we don't harass people; our users do!) and phonebooks also distributing personal information (because sharing the address of this person we find weird is totally the same as a printed https://archive.md/RoJky or just simply denying, downplaying, or justifying the activities that have taken place. No services are buying their lies, however, as KiwiFarms is struggling to find any web service company willing to do business with them ranging from PayPal to Cloudflare (which famously dropped the site in September of 2022, rendering it briefly offline altogether) to even Russia-based DDOS-Guard. Not even 8chan wants anything to do with the site owner. 
In May 2023, Kiwi Farms was only accessible through the Tor network and a spam-filled chatroom.Kiwifarms Telegram feed, converted to RSS via "Telegram to RSS or JSON service" (https://tg.i-c-a.su/), archived on 23 May 2023"If you missed it - kiwifarms had been knocked off the clearnet for weeks now, and it looks like it'll be more weeks before Josh can even try to get it online. It also sounds like plenty of his previous users are just finding new homes + his telegram chat is slowly draining users.", @DropKiwiFarms, Twitter, 2023 May 23, archived on 2023 May 24 As of January 2024, Kiwi Farms is accessible through kiwifarms.hk.kiwifarms.st. Archived on 25 September 2023
==Ableism, transphobia, and general shittiness==
Critics of Kiwi Farms point out that the "Lolcows" who end up on the website are digitally stalked, harassed (by having rumors and smears posted about them), and doxed (including full names, birthdays, workplaces, personal social media accounts, and even street addresses and phone numbers). They'll often dox family members, dig deep for social media accounts, and on rare occasions their targets' Social Security numbers.Nitasha Tiku (September 3, 2023). "The endless battle to banish the world’s most notorious stalker website". The Washington Post, via archive.today.Null (March 4, 2023). RE: "Should Kiwifarms allow doxes of financial info?". Kiwi Farms, via archive.today. Hell, even people who are ideologically aligned to them like Mister Metokur get doxed.Mister Metokur Dox Kiwi Farms (archived from February 10, 2019).
The forum was originally dedicated to the activities of a controversial individual called Christine Weston Chandler, commonly known as "Chris-chan". She is an autistic trans woman and a heavily-documented figure online best known as the creator of "Sonichu", a crossover between and Pikachu.Her fan web comic even has as an entry on Know Your Meme. She was later arrested for having sex with her mother using evidence that had been posted on Kiwi Farms,A timeline of Chris Chan's incest charge, which comes after years of online trolling that documented the creator's relationship with her mother. (6 August 2021). Insider.com. but was later released by court order.Chris Chan, an internet personality and common troll target who was charged with incest, has reportedly been released from custody. (28 March 2023). Insider.com.
Many "Lolcows" on the forum are (or in most cases, are simply accused of being) autistic, and Kiwi Farms derogatorily labels these people as "spergs" (after Asperger's syndrome). Transgender "Lolcows" are described as the pejorative "troons" or "trannies", often end up in the "Rat Kings" or "Stinkditch" categories, and are often portrayed as either faking their dysphoria or being mentally unstable.Sign up. (17 Feb 2017). Archive.is Most "cows" are described as what are known as "exceptional individuals", coined after a post filter was installed to replace the word "retards". On its now-banned Twitter account, Kiwi Farms described its purpose as "gossip and exploitation of the mentally handicapped for amusement purposes".Kiwi Farms Twitter account. (23 Jan 2016). Archive.is. Furthermore, the sign-up page for the site once came with a disclaimer saying "autistics will be laughed at. Trannies will be misgendered. People will try to find where you live."http://archive.is/pytWM Due to its offensive content, Kiwi Farms is arguably a hate speech website. 
Kiwi Farms' harassment goes beyond gender and neurological minorities. They target asexual people, despite them not being the most common target of abuse, having a thread on AVEN. The site's members will also target people with medical blogs (primarily women) by accusing them of exaggerating or even faking their illnesses. They target beauty gurus, artists, and cosplayers, and regularly engage in fat shaming and looks discrimination. There is rarely a thread that doesn't contain someone posting slurs.
Posters tend to lean right politically. Many posters are far-right, and some are involved with 4chan and Encyclopædia Dramatica. They also tend to be white males in their 20's and 30's, and much like their dear leader, they're also antisemitic.CW: Anti Semitism Despite the site's rampant transphobia, a sizable minority of its users are trans people who love to point out how any trans person they don't like isn't really trans. On the other end, the site is also popular with TERFs as a means of receiving personal information on their targets. Much the same, there's a minority of people on the site who are Tankies or Nazbols.
According to Alexa, Kiwi Farms receives over a million monthly sessions.http://www.rank2traffic.com/kiwifarms.net
Kiwi Farms was temporarily shut down on January 24, 2017 due to the owner's family getting harassed. It was reopened three weeks later under the same management without fanfare, leading many to assume it was still down.
On August 5, 2022, a trans YouTuber named Keffals was swatted, and when she tried to take refuge in a hotel, she was soon doxed by users on Kiwi Farms who were able to cross-reference a picture of the hotel's bedding with other hotels in the region. She was doxxed yet again after fleeing to the US by a member hacking into her Uber account. Sometime later, Marjorie Taylor Greene of all people was swatted by someone claiming to be from Kiwi Farms, and now even she wants the website shut down (but not without scapegoating Democrats in the process, blaming the situation on the perceived lawlessness the Dems want in the country).How 'swatting' site Kiwi Farms has created a bizarre alliance between MAGA's Marjorie Taylor Greene and transgender activists, Joshua Zitser, Insider 25 August 2022 While having been subject to intense public pressure especially after these events, Cloudflare felt the escalating violent threats in the site were too much for it to stomach (despite dawdling for years to do anything) and pulled the plug for support in September 2022.Prince, M. (September 3, 2022). "Blocking Kiwifarms". The Cloudflare Blog. Accessed Setpember 3, 2022. KiwiFarms then tried to turn to Russian-based DDOS-Guard, but that too wasn't willing to provide for such an intensely toxic asset, so it also terminated its services, in surprisingly much snappier time than CloudFlare.DDoSGuard. (September 5, 2022). . Telegram. Accessed September 5. Shortly after, they sought refuge with VanwaTech, a web hosting company known for willingly accepting far-right and extremist webshite content. VanwaTech founder Nicholas Lim defiantly stated, "We maintain a firm commitment to our role as a neutral provider of internet services and not an internet censor.""Kiwi Farms gets back online thanks to the same service that's kept 8kun alive" The Daily Dot. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
In mid September 2022, Kiwi Farms was PWNED by hackers, with Moon posting a warning that emails may be leaked and passwords compromised."‘Well f*ck’: Kiwi Farms users freak after owner says site hacked, emails may leak" by Claire Goforth, Daily Dot, 2022 September 19 Since the Keffals incident, Kiwi Farms was repeatedly kicked off various hosts,"Kiwifarms Down a Lot", topic, OnionFarms.Com, archived 2022 December 29 suffered multiple DDOS attacks and ISP blacklistings,Figure: Major incidents disrupting KIWI FARMS from September to December 2022. Green stars indicate the forum recovery, Vu, Viet Anh & Hutchings, Alice & Anderson, Ross. (2023). No Easy Way Out: The Effectiveness of Deplatforming an Extremist Forum to Suppress Hate and Harassment. and had their SSL certificate revoked."Guess I beat Josh to the announcement for that one :) Here's his statement about kiwifarms and their SSL cert problems. Interesting to note that threats did of course occur, just like kiwifarms threatened the family of cloudflare staff as well. they threaten everyone.", @DropKiwifarms, Twitter, 2023 May 16, archived on 2023 May 16 In general, Moon had a tough time keeping the forum in operation, particularly on the clearnet. Of course, Moon didn't blame his actions or the illegal harassment activity spawning from his forum for these troubles; instead he blamed "terroristic harassment" from "trannies".
On January 25, 2023, Youtuber TomDark had a debate with Moon & Destiny, where Moon said that he was going to appeal the court case. He also claimed that he had proof that Cloudflare is protecting multiple websites that are linked to ISIS and that those websites are spreading ISIS propaganda, as well as Cloudflare protecting sites that host animal torture."Destiny and Null talk about Kiwifarms Drama"
On 13th December 2023, An individual named Alameen Karim Merali claimed responsibility for the suspension of the Kiwi Farms domain after reporting it to Epik. Following the suspension, Epik claimed that they were forced by a court order to put the domain on a client hold and that the site hosted Child Pornography after supposedly having blurred photos of Alameen posted on their Twitter. Epik later deleted their Tweets and retracted their statements regarding this and Kiwi Farms is still looking to sue Epik over this.
===Suicides===
At least three people have committed suicide after being featured on Kiwi Farms.Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert (September 3, 2022). "Security firm Cloudflare drops Kiwi Farms website — known for hosting relentless online harassment campaigns — after a surge in 'credible threats'". Business Insider. Unsurprisingly, most of the site's users proceeded to mock said suicides, and downplayed the site's involvement.Kiwi Farms the biggest community of stalkers. (19 Jul 2016). New York Magazine.Joshua Moon questioned over legal status of Kiwi Farms. (26 Aug 2016). Crocels News.Notorious forum Kiwi Farms closed following alleged harassment of founder’s family by William Hicks (24 Jan 2017) |Heat Street (archived from January 29, 2017).Twitter shuts down account of cyber-bully Joshua Moon. (19 Nov 2016). Crocels News.
On June 27, 2021, Near,Formerly known as byuu. the developer of the popular SNES emulator higan,The Silicon Valley quest to preserve Stephen Hawking's voice, San Fransisco Chronicle took their own life after a 3-year-long harassment campaign by the site.Alia E. Dastagir (July 23, 2021). "'The internet is not a game. ... This stuff really hurts.' Respected developer who was bullied online dies by suicide.". USA Today.A message about Near from a mutual friend. Google Doc of the situation.The Brilliant SNES Emulator Author Known As Near Has Died, KotakuNear's Twitter account The forums responded largely with mockeryThread The Great Twitter Meltdown of 2021 page 4 Kiwi Farms (archived from 27 June 2021). and outright denial of the suicide in the first place,Null response regarding Byuu / Near Kiwi Farms (archived from 29 June 2021). even as repeated evidence came forward that Near indeed committed suicide. In response, the site got DDOSed for the next couple of daysSomeone is currently paying money to DoS attack the forum. Archived from Kiwi Farms, 28 June 2021. and lost Dreamhost as its domain registrar, which led the site to move to Cloudflare for its registrar and reverse proxy services.kiwifarms.net whois lookup, who.is, Archived on 28 July 2021. Null said there wasn't enough evidence to conclude Near was dead, and said Near was trying to extort him."Near / Byuu Suicide". KnowYourMeme. Near's employer as well as a friend attested to the death by suicide.Jody Macgregor (June 28, 2021). "Near, creator of the higan and bsnes emulators, has died". PC Gamer. Years later, Null made another post featured site-wide on Kiwi Farms under a title conceding: "Emulator developer Byuu is probably dead." This was based on results from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, however Null said he didn't "have any way to confirm it".Null (April 4, 2024). "Emulator developer Byuu is probably dead." Kiwi Farms, via archive.today.
===Links between prejudice and child sexual abuse===
Kiwi Farms and its users may sometimes claim to be interested in child protection, which may bear out in some individual cases (maybe not others, such as when the site's users allegedly got a 13-year old boy to pose as a 19-year old to sext an adult Chris-chan). The downstream effects of discriminatory attitudes can be harmful to children in ways one may not expect. Those who study child protection draw links between discrimination and child sexual abuse, it can be a key factor for creating environments conducive to child sexual abuse. Devaluation of children with disabilities isolates them, leaving them more vulnerable to exploitation.Nancy Smith and Sandra Harrell (July 1, 2013). "Sexual Abuse of Children with Disabilities: A National Snapshot". Child Law Practice Today (American Bar Association). It's similarly plausible that fostering attitudes of anti-LGBT prejudice makes child sexual abuse more likely because young people who are LGBT or are so-perceived will face relative isolation or family expulsion leading to homelessness, and may even become dependent on abusers as a result. Given that Kiwi Farms also finds fat people to be lolcows, keep in mind people with a history of child abuse victimization are more inclined to disordered eating; there is a direct relationship between childhood sexual abuse experiences, psychological distress, binge eating, and body shame. Kiwi Farms may not themselves be anywhere near culpable for the scale of these problems overall, but neither does any snowflake in an avalanche ever feel responsible.
===Genesis of the name===
The name "Kiwi Farms" fortunately has nothing to do with kiwi birds, kiwifruit, or people from New Zealand, where it has been blocked since March 2019 for providing torrents of the Christchurch shooter's uncensored livestream and manifesto.Website Kiwi Farms refuses to surrender data linked to accused Christchurch terrorist Brendan Tarrant In fact, the forum was originally known as the "CWCki Forums". (The CWCki, pronounced like 'Quickie', is a wiki dedicated to the aforementioned Christine Chandler. It was once hosted under Kiwi Farms, but broke away due to Kiwi Farms's instability.) The site was christened "Kiwi Farms" to mock someone with a speech impediment saying the original name, struggling with its unintuitive pronunciation.https://sonichu.com/cwcki/Kiwi_Farms
==Joshua Conner Moon==
Joshua Conner Moon Joshua Conner Moon. Archived from flvoters.com, 20 April 2016. is the site's administrator, where he is known as "Null".Null's Page Kiwi Farms Multiple archive snapshots, 2016-2022.
===Views===
*He is loosely associated with the alt-right. 
*Moon supports Trump, referred to Obama as "The Nigger in chief",Josh's Victory Dancehttp://archive.is/uwZNR and believes in the racist and rank white genocide conspiracy theory.White Genocide. Archive.is.http://archive.is/QpvwZ. 
*He thinks feminism ruins Western culture and says the word "cuck" a lot, probably because it rolls off the tongue well. And the company he keeps is overtly racist and spouts about "white genocide" and wanting to destroy feminism with fire.http://archive.is/mAOtD 
*He has posted that Muslims and refugees need to be killed.Joshua Null Moon Twitter Account. (15 Nov 2016). Archive.is.Joshua Moon's extreme comments about killing refugees. (17 Feb 2017). Archive.fo. 
*He is also an anti-semite.Cut Jews Fingers offArchived From Old Twitter
*He's pro-Julian Assange, saying he would rather be set on fire by ISIS than deal with the UK government in reference to Assange's arrest.Josh on Assange Via Twitter
*Moon has a strong anti-journalist sentiment. When contacted by a NBC investigator, his only response was "The press are scum".Anti-trans stalkers at Kiwi Farms are chasing one victim around the world. Their list of targets is growing. - NBC News
===Runs in the family===
His own mom was a Kiwi memberSon Like MotherHis Mom's Profile and has been in trouble with the police.Candice L Potter Arrest Record on 2013-09-16 01:22:02 in Florida, Escambia. Archived from findmugshots.com, 2017. She also worked for Keller Williams as a realtorKeller Williams until she was fired when her activity on Kiwi Farms was seemingly exposed.She Got Fired
===Banned===
*Joshua Conner Moon was banned from YouTube due to bullying and harassment.
*His @KiwiFarms Twitter account was "permanently suspended" for racism.Kiwi Farms Twitter (archived from 21 Jan 2016 14:52:02 UTC). It was back up for a few months under @KiwiFarmsDotNet, although supposedly only for status updates,@KiwiFarmsDotNet, Twitter (archived from February 12, 2022). but this account was banned a few months later.Account suspended. Archived from KiwiFarmsDotNet on Twitter, 1 June 2022.
*He was also apparently banned from PayPal.Banned From PayPal but not from Mastercard Kiwi Farms (archived from December 8, 2022).
*He was sacked as an admin for 8chan for allegedly promoting pedophilia.
==Pissed at us==
Kiwi Farms has a thread "discussing" RationalWiki, which it describes as a "whiny hugbox for spergs and a clusterfuck of never ending drama on a rapidly declining website". Cynical later helpfully labeled the statement as "sarcasm", though it's not clear what part of the statement is supposed to be "sarcastic", especially since he continued to insult us.
==Kiwi Farms explainers and free speech defenders==
===Jesse Singal===
Podcaster Jesse Singal has long been known for his focus on transgender issues.Private Messages Reveal the Cis Journalist Groupthink Behind Trans Media Narrative Harron Walker (June 27, 2018) Jezebel His behavior has been called "unprofessional, to say the least",Singal and the Noise M.K. Anderson (April 22, 2022) Protean and he has been accused of "activism against the trans rights movement."Jesse Singal vs. transgender people Transgender Map by Andrea James
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Singal has expressed concern when he believes Kiwi Farms has been negatively misrepresented. In September 2023, he tweeted about a Washington Post article on Kiwi Farms:
And a year earlier, Singal engaged in whataboutism on behalf of Kiwi Farms: 
===Electronic Frontier Foundation===
The Electronic Frontier Foundation protested actions taken against Kiwi Farms by the Tier 1 (Internet backbone) provider Hurricane, on the grounds that although Kiwi Farms enables doxxing, harassment, and abuse, it should be allowed to do so, after which perpetrators of any crimes related to the doxxing, harassment, and abuse should be prosecuted: 
Transgender journalist Evan Urquhart responded to the free speech arguments, pointing out that a major effect of the harassment enabled by Kiwi Farms was to prevent others from engaging in free speech:
===Heterodorx===
The most enthusiastic defenders of Kiwi Farms on the grounds of free speech is a podcast called Heterodorx hosted by and Corinna Cohn. They interviewed Joshua Moon for their podcast, and in their description of the episode lamented Kiwi Farms' situation: 
====Nina Paley and Gender Wars Playing Cards====
Separately from Cohn, Paley has illustrated and published a collection of playing cards called "Gender Wars.""A Newbie’s Guide to the GENDER WARS", Heterodorx, archived 2023 March 20 The deck represents the "gender critical," whom Paley considers allies, in the red suits. Paley's opponents, called "transactivists," are represented by the black suits, including "mass murderer Dana Rivers." The red suit allies include Jesse Singal, J. K. Rowling, Matt Walsh, and Kiwi Farms. The description of the Kiwi Farms card on the Heterodorx website reads: 
It's probably indicative of how little concern Paley has for Kiwi Farms' targets, or the reality of Kiwi Farms' impact, that she represents the "LOLCOW" on the card as stupidly grinning, rather than in anguish, with a noose around its neck. But perhaps that would not be as cute or funny as the fans of Gender Wars Cards would like.
Fans of Gender Wars Playing Cards include Pamela Paresky,@ninapaley’s cards are so funny... Pamela Paresky (August 6, 2023) Twitter/X, archived on 2023 Oct 20 Carole Hooven,@ninapaley's Gender Wars playing cards were a hit at the @icons_women conference. You can order them at the link. Carole Hooven (July 23, 2023) Twitter/X, archived on 2023 Oct 20 Jordan Peterson,Nina Paley is a strange and hyper-creative creature and these cards are just what you'd expect in consequence. Jordan Peterson (June 14, 2023) Twitter/X, archived on 2023 Oct 20 Mumsnet,Talk (March 31, 2023) Mumsnet, archived on 2023 Oct 20 and J. K. Rowling.OMG @jk_rowling signed her GENDER WARS card for @MForstater!!] Nina Paley (October 17, 2023) Twitter/X (archived from 25 Oct 2023 04:49:01 UTC).
==1776 Solutions LLC==
Kiwi Farms is operated by a company "1776 Solutions" LLC owned by Joshua Moon.https://www.crikey.com.au/2022/09/02/kiwi-farms-cloudflare-liz-fong-jones-internet-law/https://www.linkedin.com/in/1776moon The company is registered in Wyoming, US and its registrant agent is Northwest Registered Agent Service,https://wyobiz.wyo.gov/Business/FilingDetails.aspx?eFNum=034127143077132130035027094038122174129088154221 which has been investigated for facilitating shady business dealings.https://www.wired.com/story/registered-agents-inc-fake-personas/ Northwest Registered Agent Service are also the registered agent for Mankind Publishing House LLC (owned by Emil Kirkegaard) who publish the white supremacist journal Mankind Quarterly. Moon previously named his company "Final Solutions" based on the Nazi policy of exterminating Jews.https://thehill.com/policy/technology/3642685-why-anti-trans-web-forum-kiwi-farms-was-erased-from-the-internet/
==See also==
* the site's ancestor.
* Lolcow, the site victims.
* Cringe culture, the site's lifestyle.
* Mikemikev, a neo-Nazi "lolcow" with a 700+ page thread on Kiwi Farms.
* Ethan Ralph, another alt-right "lolcow" beefing with Null.
* Encyclopædia Dramatica, another cesspit that revels in nastiness towards other people — including KiwiFarms users.
==External links==
*
*Mother Jones article about Kiwi Farms
==Notes==
==References==
Category:4chan
Category:Ableism
Category:Alt-right
Category:Antifeminism
Category:Antisemitism
Category:Clogosphere
Category:Doxers
Category:Fascism
Category:Gamergate
Category:Holocaust denial
Category:Homophobia
Category:Internet kooks
Category:Islamophobia
Category:Internet hate sites
Category:Neo-Nazism
Category:Pissed at us
Category:Propaganda
Category:Racism
Category:Sexism
Category:Terrorists
Category:Transphobia
Category:Trolls
Category:Webshites
Category:White supremacy