On Wednesday, the House Committee on Homeland Security subpoenaed 8chan owner Jim Watkins to testify on the anonymous message board’s handling of racist content. The site has been linked to multiple mass shootings in recent months and has been widely condemned as a safe haven for white supremacists and other racists.
Most recently, the suspected gunman behind the El Paso, Texas, massacre posted his white supremacist manifesto to the site before attacking a Walmart earlier this month; 22 people were killed and 25 other people were injured in the shooting. The site remains offline as of Wednesday afternoon, after several hosting companies cut ties to 8chan in the days following the attack.
Chairman Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, and Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican from Alabama, said in a joint statement it’s “critical” Watkins appear before Congress on September 5.
“In recent years, violent extremist content has proliferated on both large and small social media platforms,” the statement said. “At least three acts of deadly white supremacist extremist violence have been linked to 8chan in the last six months. We have questions on what is being done to counter this trend so we can be sure it is being properly addressed.”
Just prior to the El Paso shooting, a post appeared on 8chan with a four-page message claiming to be from the suspected shooter. The manifesto railed against undocumented immigrants as “invaders” and argued they exacerbated issues facing American workers.
“The job of my dreams will likely be automated. Hispanics will take control of the local and state governments of my beloved Texas, changing policy to better suit their needs,” the manifesto said. “They will turn Texas into an instrument of a political coup which will hasten the destruction of our country.”
Similar 8chan posts were made in advance of the shootings at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, and a synagogue in Poway, California, with the suspect behind the Poway attack posting on 8chan before the shooting that “what I’ve learned here is priceless.”
Frederick Brennan, the creator of 8chan who sold it to Watkins in 2015, stepped away from the site in 2016 and since the El Paso shootings has repeatedly called for the site to be taken down for good because, in his words, “bodies are continuing to pile up.” Watkins, in a YouTube video on Sunday, said 8chan has been offline “voluntarily” for the last week. He said the site would remain offline until he has talked to Congress.
“I want [Congress] to understand that we have nothing to do with this crazy violence that’s been happening,” Watkins said. “I want them to understand what’s been going on because it’s obviously a smear by the press.”
5 Times Parkland Shooting Survivors Were Falsely Criticized (Photos)
As the high school students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, Florida, have increasingly pushed for change around gun control -- most recently in the March for Our Lives events around the country -- they've become the victims of attacks and conspiracy theories by those who wish to discredit them and their cause. Some of the most vocal figureheads of the movement, David Hogg, 17, and Emma Gonzalez, 18, have largely been the targets of these critiques. These five claims have been debunked as false, but it hasn't stopped them from widely circulating on social media.
David Hogg is NOT a "crisis actor"
On Feb. 21, a video claiming that David Hogg was a "crisis actor" briefly became the No. 1 Trending video on YouTube. The video included an old clip of Hogg being interviewed by a Los Angeles CBS affiliate, and it was falsely used as evidence that Hogg did not attend Stoneman Douglas as a student but was an actor. YouTube pulled the video later that day, but not before it received over 200,000 views. A separate meme also claimed that Hogg had attended and graduated from a high school in southern California. And other right-wing writers even claimed that Hogg's media appearances were suspect because his father previously worked for the FBI. Hogg explicitly denied these conspiracy theories.
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David Hogg WAS on campus at the time of the shooting
An article by Sara Rumpf in RedState questioned whether Hogg was on campus during the shooting. Rumpf noted that Hogg's comments in a CBS documentary and his quotes from a Vox article contradicted each other and called into question whether he was actually on campus. Hogg was on campus during the shooting and then returned several hours later with a camera to interview students. Rumpf later recanted the original report and apologized, but conservative media host Erick Erickson had latched onto the original story and stood by his criticism calling Hogg "a bully."
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Emma Gonzalez did NOT tear up a copy of the Constitution
An animated GIF went viral showing Emma Gonzalez tearing up a copy of the U.S. Constitution. But the image, which was tweeted out by the Twitter feed "Gab" and later by actor Adam Baldwin, was doctored. The original image came from a video from a Teen Vogue photoshoot in which Gonzalez tears up a firing range target.
Teen Vogue Twitter
Emma Gonzalez did NOT "bully" the Parkland shooter
Two conservative blogs, LouderwithCrowder.com and The American Spectator, posted an abbreviated clip of Emma Gonzalez's remarks at a rally on Feb. 17, claiming that they were "a startling admission" that Gonzalez and others had bullied shooter Nikolas Cruz. "Those talking about how we should have not ostracized him? You didn’t know this kid! OK? We did," Gonzalez said. But in context, Gonzalez was referring to the fact that school officials were alerted to Cruz's behavior and mental instability. Another student, Isabelle Robinson, wrote a New York Times op-ed responding to the idea that students needed to be nicer to Cruz. "The idea that we are to blame, even implicitly, for the murders of our friends and teachers is a slap in the face to all Stoneman Douglas victims and survivors."
CNN
David Hogg did NOT give the Nazi salute
Following his speech at the March for Our Lives rally, an image circulated juxtaposing David Hogg with his arm and fist outstretched with an image of Hitler giving the Nazi salute. "All in favor of gun control, raise your right arm," the meme reads. Several on social media also drew the comparison, but video shows that Hogg extended his closed fist into the air rather than an open palm facing downward.
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Students David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez have been the subject of conspiracy theories, misinformation and doctored images
As the high school students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, Florida, have increasingly pushed for change around gun control -- most recently in the March for Our Lives events around the country -- they've become the victims of attacks and conspiracy theories by those who wish to discredit them and their cause. Some of the most vocal figureheads of the movement, David Hogg, 17, and Emma Gonzalez, 18, have largely been the targets of these critiques. These five claims have been debunked as false, but it hasn't stopped them from widely circulating on social media.
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