The article examines the evolution of 4chan from a niche message board into a major influencer of hate and extremism on the internet. Through personal reflections and the observations of journalist Collins, it illustrates how the anonymity of 4chan emboldened its users to spread racist and reactionary sentiments globally. However, the shift in dynamics following Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter led to a diminishing relevance of 4chan, as its users began migrating to the larger platform where extremist content became normalized in mainstream discourse.
Many of the 4chan users that called me mid- Battletoad attack left messages. I listened to all of them. A pattern quickly emerged: young men, clearly nervous to even leave a message, trying to harass a stranger for, seemingly, the hell of it.
Collins, like me, closely followed 4chan's rise in the 2010s from internet backwater to unofficial propaganda organ of the Trump administration. As he sees it, once Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022, there was really no point to 4chan anymore.
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