Its surged in popularity in Japan partly due to its anonymous posting that allowed people to vent their frustrations without the worry of humiliation.įredrick Brennan created 8chan but now regrets it. 2channel, or 2ch for short, was an anonymous Japanese text board created by Hiroyuki Nishimura, who was a student at the University of Central Arkansas. Where did all this start?Ĭhan boards started in 1999 by a Japanese student living in Arkansas. In a statement to the House Committee on Homeland Security published Wednesday, he said the site has complied with 56 law enforcement requests in 2019 alone. 8chan owner Watkins also confirmed his site admins worked with law enforcement following the recent mass shootings.
The site has worked with the FBI on multiple occasions, providing needed information in some criminal cases. Some chan boards, like 4chan, store this information so it can be retrieved later. Like other websites, however, users leave digital breadcrumbs, such as IP addresses, that are recorded. Each user can create a numbered thread or reply to one. Chan boards don't require users to create accounts, which is a big draw.
