SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS Radio) -- The latest mass shootings were finally enough for internet infrastructure provider Cloudflare.
CEO Matthew Prince posted an online statement explaining the company's decision to terminate service to the online forum 8chan.
“We reluctantly tolerate content that we find reprehensible, but we draw the line at platforms that have demonstrated they directly inspire tragic events and are lawless by design,” said Prince in announcing the takedown.
Prince continued, "The rationale is simple: they have proven themselves to be lawless and that lawlessness has caused multiple tragic deaths. Even if 8chan may not have violated the letter of the law in refusing to moderate their hate-filled community, they have created an environment that revels in violating its spirit."
8chan, run from the Philippines by an American named Jim Watkins, has been filled for years with content that would violate the terms of service of mainstream social media platforms. The last straw for Cloudflare was the reported posting of a manifesto by a man reputed to be the person who killed at least 20 people and wounded at least 26 more at a WalMart store in El Paso on Saturday.
Cloudflare's Prince seemed resigned to a sad reality: 8chan and similar sites are likely to resurface. Noting Cloudflare's takedown of the neo-Nazi site The Daily Stormer two years ago, Prince noted that the site is back online and claims more eraders than ever. "They are no longer Cloudflare's problem, but they remain the Internet's problem," wrote Prince.