8chan: ex-users of far-right site flock to new homes across internet

Former members of 8chan have scattered across the internet after the far-right site was shut down over the weekend, finding new homes in other rightwing sites, on encrypted messaging services, and on major social media platforms.
8chan went dark this week after the security service provider Cloudflare terminated the extremist messaging board as one of its clients following the El Paso shooting.
The anonymous nature of 8chan can make it difficult to track where its followers are going, said Joan Donovan, the director and lead researcher of the Technology and Social Change Research Project at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. But 8chan’s user base overlaps with several websites and platforms, making it likely that community members will move on to other sites and message platforms, she noted.
“Most likely, these groups are moving to alternative social media platforms where there is a pre-existing community to join,” agreed Benjamin Decker, CEO of the digital investigations consultancy Memetic. “The removal of 8chan is just crossing one more platform off the list they won’t be using for the time being, but it won’t necessarily disrupt the community structure.”