What Japanese company is behind 4chan, one of the world's largest anonymous message boards?
4chan is an anonymous message board for English-speaking people with over 20 million monthly users and over 600 million monthly page views. It has been pointed out that a Japanese company is behind 4chan.
Who owns 4chan? | Ars Technica
4chan is an anonymous message board that has been consistently linked to the conspiracy theorist group QAnon and online racist and terrorist attacks. Journalist Justin Lin, who points out that 4chan's notoriety continues to grow, says that 'it's necessary to unravel its mysterious identity' in order to point out its mistakes.
In 2015, Hiroyuki Nishimura, known as Hiroyuki, made headlines when he bought 4chan, but Lin said that the Good Smile Company , a major Japanese toy manufacturer, also played a major role in the acquisition.
Good Smile Company is known for having licensing agreements with global entertainment companies such as Disney and Warner Bros. and producing and selling anime and game-related figures. In 2021, Good Smile Company only stated that 'we are a passive investor in 4chan' regarding its relationship with 4chan, but a confidentiality agreement obtained independently by Lin revealed that Good Smile Company and Dwango were involved in Hiroyuki's acquisition of 4chan in 2015.
Additionally, according to court documents regarding the 4chan acquisition reported by The Hollywood Reporter and Kotaku , Good Smile Company employees were upset to learn of the company's involvement in the acquisition, but the company's executives allegedly ignored the concerns.
Hiroyuki established the anonymous message board '2chan' in Arkansas, USA, in 1999. 2chan was built on the success of text-based message boards, but its unique essence is its 'complete anonymity'.
Although 2chan was not widely accepted in the English-speaking world, it enjoyed a cult following among some users. One of the rare 2chan users in the English-speaking world was Christopher Poole, the founder of 4chan. Poole obtained the source code that was the basis of 2chan and used it to create 4chan.
Early 4chan users only harassed white supremacist radio personalities and hacked their emails, but even back then, it was linked to child pornography, and 4chan's anonymity was sometimes used to commit crimes. In the meantime, in early 2015, Pool suddenly announced that he was withdrawing from 4chan and sold the platform to Hiroyuki. In an interview with Rolling Stone , Pool said of the sale of 4chan, '4chan certainly gave me a certain amount of notoriety, but it didn't give me any wealth.'
4chan's new owner, Hiroyuki, held a Q&A session on the message board, during which he responded to a question about how he raised the funds to acquire the site by saying he 'borrowed' it.
After Hiroyuki's acquisition, 4chan split into two: '4chan,' which accepts pornographic content, and '4channel,' which excludes pornographic content and is safe for advertisers, in order to cover its excessive operating costs with advertising revenue. However, both essentially rely on self-service advertising platforms, with 4chan mainly displaying pornographic ads, and 4channel displaying ads for content such as Steam, virtual currencies, and NFTs. According to analytics company Similarweb, both 4chan and 4channel are ranked in the top 1000 of the most popular websites in the world.
4chan is incorporated in the state of Delaware, with operations in New York, Virginia, and Ohio. The registered owner of 4chan is a company called 4chan Community Support. According to documents filed with the New York State and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 4chan is headquartered in Los Angeles, USA.
However, Lin said that 4chan does not actually have a separate physical office in the United States and has no employees. However, Lin pointed out that there is a Japanese company with an office in Los Angeles, USA, which is Good Smile Company. Lin wrote about Good Smile Company, 'Many of Good Smile Company's figures depict underage girls and are sold with sexually suggestive language. Also, anime with sexual depictions is very popular on 4chan.' A source familiar with the inside affairs of Good Smile Company told Lin, 'Good Smile Company owns part of 4chan.'
Lin also independently obtained internal documents from Good Smile Company, which he points out include a confidentiality agreement signed in April 2015. The confidentiality agreement was signed a few months after Poole announced he was leaving 4chan, and five months before Hiroyuki acquired the message board. The confidentiality agreement was signed to protect the confidentiality of Dwango,
It is unclear whether all the parties in the non-disclosure agreement were involved in the acquisition of 4chan, but the start date of the non-disclosure agreement is May 2015, the month after it was signed. WIRED said it is 'unclear' whether Dwango is still involved in the operation of 4chan. However, when Dwango invited Hiroyuki as a guest on Nico Nico Live Broadcast in 2016, he was listed as '4chan administrator.'
Mirai Kensaku Brazil, another company named in the non-disclosure agreement, was founded by Hiroyuki. The company's website states that it is a 'company that provides various know-how related to online communities,' but that clients must sign a non-disclosure agreement with the company to receive its services. Mirai Kensaku Brazil is said to have its headquarters in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, but its address is said to be the same building where Good Smile Company is located.
The relationship between 4chan and Good Smile Company was revealed when Good Smile Company filed a lawsuit against three former employees in Los Angeles County Court. The three former employees sued were originally employed at 4chan. They claim in the lawsuit that Hozumi Ena, who oversees Good Smile Company's US operations, told them that CEO Aki was directly or indirectly funding 4chan. Furthermore, the former employees say they were even asked if they would like to cooperate with a fan design contest using Yotsuba Koiwai , a popular unofficial mascot character for 4chan.
Fredrick Brennan, former owner of 8chan, said of Good Smile Company's connection to 4chan, 'If the existence of 4chan drives traffic and sales to the Good Smile Company website, then the investment would be worthwhile.'
'There is nothing illegal about Good Smile Company's products,' Lin said. 'Also, there are many companies out there that provide anime with sexual depictions. What makes Good Smile Company unique is that they have an investment in 4chan and have licensing agreements with some of the most famous companies in the world (such as Disney and Warner Bros.).'
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