Controversial forum "4chan" hacked, user and moderator data allegedly exposed

The infamous internet forum 4chan was hacked this Tuesday.

The 4chan website is currently failing to load, and users on social media reported that the site was down intermittently for hours.

Messages on a rival message board rejoiced at the hack, with one person claiming the hacker responsible for the breach had been inside the 4chan system "for over a year."

Several images published online show what is claimed to be a 4chan database, the source code of which was accessible only to the site's moderators. Also in the leaked data was a list of alleged 4chan moderators and "cleaners," who are users who can delete posts and threads but have fewer privileges than moderators, who can also see users' IP addresses.

Given 4chan's known violent political connections, this cyberattack could potentially expose the people who run these forums, which have become central to far-right movements.

TechCrunch reached out to several of the leaked email addresses and spoke to one of the people behind one of the email addresses. A 4chan cleanup worker, who spoke to TechCrunch on condition of anonymity, said he is "confident" that the leaked data and screenshots are "all real."

"I have no reason to believe otherwise," he said.

"I'm kind of drawn to it. The 4chan moderation team has had leaks in the past, but this is definitely a bigger problem," he told TechCrunch. "I'm not happy with the situation. I'm sure most people aren't either. But a lot of us have been doing this for a long time. Doxxing is a hobby on 4chan, and the potential for us to get exposed has always been there."

"I was more concerned about the leaked information, for obvious reasons," he said. "I would bet that the fact that 4chan was taken over by a hacker(s) is probably 'worse' than the leaked footage, at least from the perspective of the continued operation of the site."

He also said it appears the hacker obtained the personal information of "4chan Pass" subscribers, who are users who pay the site to bypass post controls and access a VIP board.

4chan is a seemingly anonymous online forum that functions as the dark side of the internet. Most of the time, it's an image forum that seems to be frequented by users trying to shock each other, often by posting some of the most degrading content imaginable. Other times, 4chan's cultural exports seep into the real world as harmless memes or as hateful rhetoric that inspires right-wing terrorism.

Memes like Pepe the Frog were first popularized on 4chan, but have become ubiquitous across the internet. However, 4chan's strongest legacy comes from its political boards, where far-right rhetoric can radicalize young users. QAnon, a group of far-right conspiracy theorists who support President Donald Trump, originated on 4chan.

The gunman who killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019 had been a regular user of 4chan since he was a teenager. In 2022, a then-18-year-old killed 10 people of color at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York; his 180-page manifesto borrowed from the Christchurch shooter's online rhetoric.