How a major toy company kept 4chan online
by WIRED from Ars Technica - All content on (#6AB50)
Enlarge (credit: Jacqui VanLiew; Getty Images)
Toxic image board 4chan has managed to stay online for the past seven years-amid boycotts and advertiser flight, after being implicated in several mass shootings, even as it was identified as a source of the conspiracy theories that inspired the January 6 insurrection-thanks, in part, to a $2.4 million investment from a major Japanese toy company.
A partnership agreement, obtained exclusively by WIRED, shows not only how current site owner Hiroyuki Nishimura acquired the far-right message board but also how Japanese industry helped finance the deal.