Inside 4chan’s top-secret moderation machine
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On May 14, 2022, 18-year-old Payton Gendron sent out a link to a select group of online friends. It was an invite to a private Twitch stream, access to his running online diary, and an upload of his 180-page manifesto.
Those who clicked the link saw Gendron sitting in his car, in the parking lot of the Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York. They watched as he lifted his AR-15-style rifle, equipped with a high-capacity magazine, and opened fire. He killed 10 people in just six minutes.
Even before police stopped the massacre and arrested Gendron, the link was being posted to the anonymous imageboard 4chan. On /pol/, the site's politically incorrect" board, people commented in real time on the mass shooting. Why not shoot up the abortion rallys? What a faggot," one user wrote. Another chimed in: The kids manifesto is actually pretty good." Dozens of people who missed the livestream demanded a recording. Others declared it a deep-state false flag operation.