TORONTO -- Jim Watkins, the owner of embattled forum website 8chan, took to to issue a call-to-action for his site users to remain united and rant about modern American society, as he attempts to bring 8chan back online under a different name.
鈥淚鈥檓 Jim,鈥� Watkins says in a high pitched sing-song voice in the video introduction. He then appears to mock popular YouTube creators by requesting that his viewers 鈥渓ike鈥� and 鈥渇ollow鈥� him before launching into a prepared speech he reads from several sheets of paper.
鈥淚 want you all to know something,鈥� Watkins says. 鈥淵ou need to hang together, because surely, you will hang separately.鈥�
Watkins says there is only so much 鈥渘onsense鈥� the American people will take, adding that an 鈥渁ctive attempt to subvert American law and the filling of your coffers with ill-begotten wealth will not go unpunished.鈥�
Watkins calls people who 鈥渟ell out鈥� their fellow Americans, 鈥渨easels鈥� and says they are dangerous when they band together. He then accuses 鈥渇oreigners鈥� of 鈥渂uying鈥� U.S. representatives.
Meanwhile, Fredrick Brennan, who created 8chan in 2013, appears to be .
Brennan created 8chan in 2013 but is no longer affiliated with the site, and has told several media outlets he regrets creating it.
鈥淭he only change I want to see is Jim Watkins eating crow and not being able to run an 8chan-style imageboard,鈥� Brennan鈥檚 reads.
8chan was deplatformed in the wake of the El Paso shooting. It is preparing to launch again under a new name 鈥� 8kun.
On 8chan鈥檚 , a mini-trailer was posted showing the site鈥檚 new logo appearing wreathed in flames and emblazoned on a flag in the midst of a storm.
The 鈥�8鈥� appears to be made out of a snake that closely resembles that of the historical 鈥�,鈥� a symbol that has been co-opted by white nationalists and other radical groups in recent years.
Ron Watkins, son of Jim Watkins and an 8chan administrator, that the site was 鈥渘ow in the final stretches before getting things back online.鈥�
On Wednesday, the asking former 8chan 鈥渂oard owners鈥� to email them 鈥渨ith your shared secret鈥� to migrate their content to the new site.
A 鈥渟hared secret鈥� is an account-recovery tool that allows locked out site users to use a randomly generated password to regain access to their content.
Social media activist group out a challenge Wednesday to Canadian tech company , the supposed registrar for 8kun.et, saying: 鈥測ou appear to be the registrar for 8kun.net, the new site for 8chan, which has been the home screeds from three white supremacist mass shooters. Is this really a site with which you鈥檇 like to do business?鈥�
Tucows had previously been reported to have terminated service with 8chan in August by .
Tucows has not responded to 麻豆影视.ca鈥檚 request for comment, however David Gilbert, a reporter for Vice, that Tucows called him and said this was the first they had heard about the 8kun site.
In the summer, 8chan was dropped by network provider Cloudflare after the El Paso gunman posted his 鈥渕anifesto鈥� to the site prior to committing a mass shooting in August.
Subsequent attempts by 8chan to get back online were thwarted as other companies repeatedly dropped them as a customer, citing the websites propensity to host hate speech and violent, misogynistic content.
Last month, the House Homeland Security Committee subpoenaed Jim Watkins to testify about 8chan鈥檚 role in a series of mass shootings - including the Christchurch mosque shooting in New Zealand and the Poway Synagogue shooting in California.
After a closed-door hearing, Watkins released a statement through his attorney laying out 8chan鈥檚 organization, structure and its relationship with law enforcement while vowing to implement changes to combat 鈥渋llegal鈥� hate-speech.
The House Homeland Security Committee that their 鈥渃oncerns with 8chan and its threat to spreading violent extremism, regardless of rebranding, remains the same.鈥�
