The mass shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand; Poway, California; and El Paso, Texas; have a connection. They were all announced – beforehand – on a web forum known as “8chan.”

The forum started in 2013 as an oasis for free speech. It has since become a gathering place for extremists. A four-page manifesto from the El Paso shooter was uploaded moments before the shooting, urging his “brothers” to share it.

The site went dark Sunday night after Cloudflare, a cyberattack guardian, stopped working with it.

The New York Times reports 8chan creator Fredrick Brennan, of the Philippines, is also urging the current site owner to “shut it down” for good. “It’s not doing the world any good. It’s a complete negative to everybody except the users that are there. And you know what? It’s a negative to them, too. They just don’t realize it.”

Source: https://www.snopes.com/ap/2019/08/05/what-is-the-online-forum-8chan/