4Chan Is in Big Financial Trouble

The 'Internet Hate Machine' is having trouble keeping the lights on
By Daniel Kay,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 4, 2016 3:18 PM CDT
4Chan Is in Big Financial Trouble
   (4Chan)

One year after 4Chan founder Christopher "moot" Poole sold the website he had run since he was a teen, the new management is realizing it may not be so easy to run one of the Internet's most infamous communities. New owner Hiroyuki Nishimura posted a note on 4chan itself Sunday, saying "Thank you for thinking about 4chan. We had tried to keep 4chan as is. But I failed. I am sincerely sorry." Nishimura said the increasing incidence of ad blockers has made it impossible to cover the costs of running the site with the current business model. He suggested three possible fixes: limiting upload sizes and removing boards to thin traffic, adding malicious advertising such as pop-under ads, or increasing the sales of 4Chan premium subscriptions.

In the past, 4Chan has been linked to various online hate movements, due to the site's loose moderation and anonymous nature. However, nefarious users have largely migrated off 4Chan to other hidden imageboards, subreddits, and "chans," meaning a potential closure of the site isn't as big of a story as it once might have been. Nonetheless, 4Chan still has its fans. Gizmodo reports that both Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson and hated pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli tweeted about providing financial support to the site. Notch deleted his tweet, but in typical Shkreli style, Martin has been unapologetic. (More 4Chan stories.)

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