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 | This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses, and initial news reports may be unreliable. The latest updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. (April 2025) |
 | This article's "criticism" or "controversy" section may compromise the article's neutrality. (April 2025) |
 | |
 Homepage on May 3, 2023 | |
Type of site | Imageboard |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Owner |
|
| Created by | Christopher Poole |
| Services | 4chan Pass |
| URL | 4chan |
| Advertising | Yes |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | None (except for staff) |
| Launched |
|
| Current status | Unknown |
4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from video games and television to literature, cooking, weapons, music, history, technology, anime, physical fitness, politics, and sports, among others. Registration is not available, except for staff, and users typically post anonymously.[2] As of 2022[update], 4chan receives more than 22 million unique monthly visitors, of whom approximately half are from the United States.[3][4]
4chan was created as an unofficial English-language counterpart to the Japanese imageboard Futaba Channel, also known as 2chan, and its first boards were originally used for posting images and discussion related to anime. The site has been described as a hub of Internet subculture, its community being influential in the formation and popularization of prominent Internet memes, such as lolcats, Rickrolling, rage comics, wojaks, Pepe the Frog, as well as hacktivist and political movements, such as Anonymous and the alt-right.
4chan has often been the subject of media attention as a source of controversies, including the coordination of pranks and harassment against websites and Internet users, and the posting of illegal and offensive content as a result of its lax censorship and moderation policies. In 2008, The Guardian summarized the 4chan community as "lunatic, juvenile [...] brilliant, ridiculous and alarming".[5]
On April 15, 2025, the site was taken down with a "major hack suspected".[6][7][8] On another website, soyjak.party, information purporting to be from the hack was being released, claiming admin level access, a lack of updates to the site since 2016, and identities of admins, among other claims.[6]
- ^ moot (October 1, 2003). "Welcome". 4chan. Retrieved August 2, 2008.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:2was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "4chan – Press". 4chan. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
- ^ Elley, Ben (March 9, 2021). ""The rebirth of the West begins with you!"—Self-improvement as radicalisation on 4chan". Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. 8 (1): 1–10. doi:10.1057/s41599-021-00732-x. ISSN 2662-9992. S2CID 232164033.
- ^ Michaels, Sean (March 19, 2008). "Taking the Rick". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on July 27, 2008. Retrieved July 24, 2008.
- ^ a b "4chan goes dark as alleged hacker attacks takes the website down". Cybernews. April 15, 2025. Retrieved April 15, 2025.
- ^ "Is 4chan down? What we know amid hack reports". Newsweek. April 15, 2025. Retrieved April 15, 2025.
- ^ Mikael Thalen, "4chan hacked, internal data leaked on rival image board", dailydot.com, April 15, 2025
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