8chan owner Jim Watkins called to testify before Congress after shootings

NY Post ^ | August 06 2019 | Reuters

[knighthawk]

Online message board 8chan’s fortunes worsened on Tuesday, as the site was once again made homeless by a technical services provider and its owner was called to testify before the US Congress after 8chan was linked to the weekend mass shooting in El Paso, Texas.

The House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee demanded that owner Jim Watkins, an American living in the Philippines, testify about 8chan’s efforts to address “the proliferation of extremist content, including white supremacist content.”

The committee’s Democratic chairman, Bennie Thompson, and Mike Rogers, the committee’s ranking Republican, sent a letter to Watkins asking him to appear before the committee, noting that the El Paso massacre “is at least the third act of supremacist violence linked to your website this year.”

[McGruff]

I can see another political circus in front of the cameras.

[Ann Archy]

DEmocrats know how to move Fast. Republicans move like molasses! WISE UP PUBBIES!

[kevao]

I’ve seen many references to, but never understood, all these “Chans.” So I googled, read a lot, and still don’t completely understand. Apparently they’re web sites where you create your own forums?

There’s 2, 4, 7, 8, Charlie, and Lee (”Number One Son”) Chan. No mention of 1 (unless that’s Lee — Number One Son), 3, 5, 6, or anything greater than 8 Chan.

So is the owner of a web site responsible for all content of each member’s forum posts?

Is Jim Thompson responsible for all we say on FR, and then do when we’re not logged in? That must be a hughly series stune to his beeber.

Or is all this just anti-Asian bigotry? From what I googled, Charlie Chan was a great American. Naturalized, but a true patriot! He took down some really bad guys, once even thwarting a Nazi attempt to steal one of our new aerial guidance systems.

Is this congressional hearing necessary, or is it, as Sidney Wang would say, “Conversation like television set on honeymoon: unnecessary?”

[Vince Ferrer]

Yes, its basically a bunch of forums. A lot of the forums are places where people can gather to do research on various topics. The owner has stated that the original place the recent manifesto was published was Instagram, but a user posted it to 8chan. They do this to collect information and spread it to other researchers, so it is possible that it was only posted on 8chan for legitimate research purposes. I don't know for a fact, I didn't see it.

Some interesting collateral damage that no one has talked about is that the controversial "Q" posted on an 8chan board set up for those posts and research into those posts. There, a lot of photos, documents, tweets were collected and examined that had something to do with whatever "Q" was posting about. That forum was deleted too, along with all of 8chan, for a posting on one of the unrelated forums. Could this have been an effort more to target the "Q" researchers than to stop shooters from posting there?

[kevao]

Was that an imposed deletion, like when FaceBook or Twitter shuts someone down, or an auto-deletion, like when the FBI deletes all those Strzok/Page texts to hide their crimes?

By the way, from where does you Ferrer name originate?

[minnesota_bound]

Democrats to 8chan: “How many times has Donald Trump posted racist comments on the site?”

[Cboldt]

While there are some deletions on 8chan, they are similar to deleted posts here - deleted for a reason such as repetitive spam or illegal content or extremely obnoxious but legal content.

The "entirety" of 8chan is not deleted. The data still exist. For a couple days maybe it was not accessible to the public via network, and it is now not accessible to the pubic via its domainname. The website is available now (not via domainname) and is read-only, so no new shared research and remarks are available there since Sunday.

Press descriptions of 8chan are as accurate as the claim that "Trump is a racist."

The current owner of the website is happy to testify to Congress and the public. Conmgress is hostile to free speech, having enabled Twitter and Facebook to ban conservative speech with statutory immunity from suit.

[sauropod]

I’m confused. Did they ask or did they demand?

Poorly written story.

Also, how can they demand someone appear that is living in another country? Have him extradited?

[thoughtomator]

I think you can dispense with worrying about what the standard is at the moment you notice the alleged standard is not being applied to Google, Twitter, FB, Instagram, etc., all of which have been the primary forum for a great many horrible crimes.

On 8chan, as was the case with Gab, as will be the case in the future with other websites you’ll first hear of when they are demonized by full-court media press, you can say things that Communists don’t like - and Communists can’t live with that.

[TheNext]

Jim Watkins should say you Democrats are mass shooting the good people at Walmart, so you can get a budget.

The mass shooters are Democrat Deep State.

[TheNext]

Jim Watkins should personalize each Walmart victim with each Democrat Congressperson who manage these shooters.

The mass shooters like Walmart were Democrat Deep State.

[Paladin2]

Are there now Departments of Q “Studies” at the Unis now?

[MuttTheHoople]

I believe this is why the Democrats are complicit in the shootings. May have been a move after seeing the horrid performances at the Democrat debates.

[momincombatboots]

They sure are... the dems don’t mind killing masses of children. I have suspected many of these shooters are the American version of a suicide bomber. It’s time to treat their supporters like that.

[Drango]

A little off topic, but if Congress “calls” you to to testify, do they pay for the air fare, hotel and meals?

[mewzilla]

Mr. Watkins, you might want to remind Congress that most states, if not all, already have red flag laws in the form of judicial commitment laws.

Those laws can be used for anyone who is an imminent threat, not just imminent threats in possession of firearms.

And if not all states may have those, why not?

You might also want to ask why states and Fedzilla haven’t adequately funded facilities to treat and sequester people who flunk their mental health checks.

Not all mass murders use firearms.

[gnarledmaw]

I dont know about all that but your Mr Thompson should be responsible for what someone does in the shower while logged in.

[gnarledmaw]

Yknow how it is where the first person complaining about something is often involved and just trying to get out in front of a story as the good guy?

How big of a catalogue of CPr0n do these two have?

[sergeantdave]

“So is the owner of a web site responsible for all content of each member’s forum posts?”

Of course. If the killer had posted his manifesto on the door of Walmart, then naturally Walmart supports mass murderers. Post it on the wall of an IRS building, and the IRS is in league with mass killers. Stick a copy of Hitler’s Mein Kampf in Sen. Schumer’s lunch box and Chucky is a Nazi. See how easy that works?

Ain’t liberal logic grand?