4chan: The digital world fueling misinformation

Did you see this viral post on X (formerly Twitter) with over 11.8 million views, claiming that a U.S. Secret Service agent named Jonathan Willis was asked not to neutralize the shooter who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally on July 13? Or perhaps this post, sharing an image of a person in black spectacles, falsely claiming the shooter was transgender?

Screenshot of viral posts circulating on social media. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)  

These posts were amplified by popular accounts like Matt Wallace (@MattWallace888) and Ray (@raymo_g) that routinely spread misinformation. The claim that a Secret Service agent was asked not to neutralize the shooter also went viral on Facebook and YouTube. In the days following the assassination bid, as false narratives gained traction, the U.S. Secret Service told Logically Facts that they have no employee named Jonathan Willis.

And that image identifying the shooter? It was a hoax created by a user who confessed "spreading rumors is fun."

Screenshots of the post shared on 4chan regarding shooter misidentification. (Source: 4chan)

We investigated these particular posts that were shared on social media platforms and discovered that all of them included a screenshot from 4chan, a website where users can post images and comments anonymously. Discussions on the platform range from politics and video games to music and cooking, but it is well-known for its far-right content and offensive language. The anonymity allows users freely post misinformation, hateful, and abusive messages without fear of reprisal.  

4chan’s digital bulletin boards have spawned everything from viral memes to dangerous conspiracy theories and controversies like Pizzagate and Gamergate. But why does the website generate such outrage? This analysis looks at how 4chan became a formidable source of misinformation.

The rise of 4chan

An image-based bulletin board, founded by Christopher Poole (Moot) in 2003, 4chan allows users to discuss various topics. "It is similar to an online forum, where people can start new threads, and others can comment on them. Unlike traditional online platforms, however, 4chan is fully anonymous, as there are no user accounts,” Boston University Associate Professor Gianluca Stringhini, who studies fringe media, told Logically Facts.

A Screenshot showing 4chan’s home page with different boards. (Source: 4chan)

And over the years, Poole tried containing 4chan’s emerging political streak when he owned the company till 2015, according to The Wired.

The 4chan community first made headlines in 2008 when a group called Anonymous that originated from the website organized a prank for “raiding” gaming chatrooms which devolved into cyberbullying. Anonymous supported 2011’s Occupy Wall Street, a movement that protested against “economic inequality,”  by reportedly crashing government websites and hacking passwords. But a focus on progressive libertarianism movements eventually dissipated to 4chan’s “neo-Nazi” leanings thriving.

During the 2016 U.S. elections, 4chan users were notorious for posting alt-right content in support of Trump who successfully won the presidential bid. 

Over the years, content posted on 4chan started to be associated with real-world harm. In 2017, shortly before QAnon originated from the platform, a 29-year-old fired bullets inside a popular pizzeria in Washington, believing he was self-investigating the baseless “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory — that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) had uncovered a pedophilia ring linked to members of the Democratic Party and that the restaurant was somehow involved. No one was hurt in the shooting, and Welch was sentenced to four years in prison.

In 2019, White supremacist Brenton Tarrant massacred 51 Muslim worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch mosque attack in New Zealand. Before the attack, Tarrant published a six-page manifesto on 4chan, and The Guardian reported that he had been posting anonymously on 4chan about the “need to attack people of color” for four years. Tarrant was given life imprisonment without parole in 2020.

By the 2020 U.S. elections, claims by QAnon supporters such as Trump was secretly fighting a child trafficking ring run by celebrities and government officials gained legitimacy on ground. Multiple other events, such as the January 6 Capitol insurrection and the El Paso mass shooting, reportedly had their details posted and discussed on 4chan and its similar counterpart, 8chan, before the attacks.

The anonymity factor

“The content there is ephemeral, and the same topics are discussed over and over again. With time, the community builds a shared lore that keeps getting refined. Eventually, this gives birth to conspiracy theories that spread to the mainstream,” according to Stringhini. “I think that people are attracted by the anonymous nature of the platform and by the fact that anything goes there.”

Unlike X, Facebook, YouTube, and Reddit, users do not need to create an account and provide a name on 4chan. A user can post without having to furnish any details such as an email address — information that is a prerequisite for joining most other platforms.

Threads on 4chan board show users posting as ‘anonymous.’ (Source: 4chan)

As a result, users are able to continue posting conspiracy theories and widely debunked claims. For instance, false claims of Trump taking flights to the infamous Epstein Island are still being posted on the platform. 

Screenshots of messages posted on Pizzagate, QAnon theory, and Epstein Island. (Source: 4chan)

Moreover, 4chan threads are short-lived and expire after an unspecified time period, making it difficult to moderate misinformation and offensive content. 

Screenshots of expired posts. (Source: 4chan)

4chan outlines its Global Rules on the website, stating that users are banned from sharing posts that violate local or U.S. law. The platform employs a team of “moderators” and “janitors” to delete posts that break the rules. However, the FAQ section admits, “There is no way for an end user to accurately judge the amount of moderation taking place at any given point in time.”

“There is virtually no moderation on the platform, and nothing gets fact-checked,” Stringhini told Logically Facts.

As of this writing, 4chan hosts 73 boards, with one such board, “/pol/,” or "politically incorrect," being primarily responsible for many of the hoaxes. Almost every post mentioned in the images, including Trump's rally shooting claims and other instances of shooter misidentification, originated from this board.

Screenshot of posts shared on/po/board. (Source: 4chan)

Another example is the Sam Hyde meme. Whenever a mass shooting happens, users on “/pol/” name comedian Sam Hyde as the shooter. This prank has even fooled high-profile individuals, including U.S. Congressman Vicente Gonzales.

Another popular 4chan board, the “random” board known as “/b/”, serves as a source for explicit images of celebrities and others that are sometimes edited and generated using artificial intelligence (AI). For instance, a fake and explicit image of pop singer Tylor Swift first emerged on 4chan. Similarly, explicit images of celebrities including Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, and Kim Kardashian, were first shared on the platform.

Platforms like Facebook have partnered with third-party fact-checking organizations to combat misinformation, while X allows Community Notes to clarify misleading or false content in posts, and YouTube adds a contextual note or label on topics such as climate change, COVID-19 and during elections. 

The ripple effect 

Stringhini noted that while some theories and claims originating on 4chan might never leave the platform, others make their way to mainstream media and are posted across platforms. 

Stringhini’s study analyzing the impact of 4chan “raids” on other platforms found that YouTube videos advocating for gender equality, feminism, and tolerance were targeted by 4chan users. They observed a strong correlation between spikes in YouTube comments within the lifetime of a 4chan thread, and the increase in hate speech within those comments.

In 2018, a study examined the origin of memes and found that the 4chan board  “/pol/” significantly influenced the meme ecosystem. Another paper explored that alt-right communities within 4chan influenced X and often succeeded in spreading alternative news to mainstream social networks and the broader web. Another study found that fringe websites like 4chan gave rise to Sinophobic content in the wake of COVID-19. 

Today, 4chan stands at the forefront of the battle between free expression and the spread of harmful ideas.

“There is a lot of discussion on where to put the platform. Where should you draw the line of what is free speech? What is unacceptable? What is censorship?,” Stringhini said. “I think platforms like 4chan have been around for a while, and they obviously have been responsible for malicious, harmful activity. There should be regular policing as harmful conspiracy theories are becoming sort of mainstream and that's what is dangerous.”

When asked about how people can be vigilant about the posts shared from 4chan to the mainstream media, he says that one can look for these signs, “The same conspiracy theories (like in the case of Sam Hyde) keep popping up over and over, and the community might use peculiar language or imagery for the content that they post and the accounts they use (for example, the Pepe the Frog meme).”

He also added that “pervasive fact-checking (like soft moderation warnings) on social media would help” reduce the amount of hateful content.
Logically Facts has debunked multiple claims that emerged from 4chan in the past which can be read here, here, here, and here.

In contrast, 4chan lacks similar initiatives that promote the propagation of hateful content. According to Stringhini, “The only moderation on the platform appears to be for clearly illegal content, such as child pornography. Everything else remains untouched.”   

(Edited by Sanyukta Dharmadhikari and Ilma Hasan)