Kiwi Farms

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Kiwi Farms
File:KiwiFarmsLogo.svg
Type of site
Forum
Available inEnglish, with an "Internationale Clique" subforum for non-English discussions
OwnerJoshua "Null" Moon
Parent1776 Solutions LLC (previously Final Solutions LLC)[1]
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional (required to participate and view certain content)
Users16,000 daily logins, as of 2022[2]
LaunchedFebruary 4, 2013; 11 years ago (2013-02-04)

Kiwi Farms, formerly known as CWCki Forums (/ˈkwɪki/ KWIH-kee), is a web forum that facilitates the discussion and harassment of online figures and communities. Their targets are often subject to organized group trolling and stalking, as well as doxxing and real-life harassment.[3][4][5] Kiwi Farms has been tied to the deaths of six people, three of them being victims of harassment who died by suicide,[15] and a double murder-suicide at a high school in Aztec, New Mexico committed by a member of Kiwi Farms.[16] Kiwi Farms' connection to several controversies and harassment campaigns has caused the forum to be blocked by Internet service providers or refused service by companies. After the Christchurch mosque shootings, some Internet service providers in New Zealand blocked the site. In 2021, after the suicide of Near, a non-binary software developer who was subject to targeted and organised group harassment by members of the site, DreamHost stopped providing their domain registration services to Kiwi Farms. In September 2022, Kiwi Farms was blocked by Cloudflare due to "an imminent and emergency threat to human life". Following intermittent availability, The Daily Dot confirmed VanwaTech was providing content delivery network services to the site, which brought it back online. In September 2022, Kiwi Farms suffered a data breach; the site operator told users to assume that IP addresses, email addresses, and passwords had been leaked.[17][18]

History

As of 2022, the site had 16,000 daily logins, according to the site's administrators.[2] Katelyn Burns, who had been targeted by the site, described its audience as "terminally online people from a wide range of political ideologies, from far right and anti-trans feminist types to edgy lefties obsessed with consuming internet drama", while noting that "of particular interest to many of the site's users have been trans people, who they have labeled 'troons', a derogatory portmanteau of 'tranny' and 'goon'".[19]

Harassment

Terminations of service

Kiwi Farms used services from Cloudflare, an American hosting and web security services provider. The services include DDoS protection, and distribution through Cloudflare's content delivery network.[20] Following Kiwi Farms' harassment campaign against Sorrenti, in August 2022 a campaign was started to try to convince Cloudflare to stop providing services to the site.[21][22] NBC News claims this was done in order to enable "debilitating virtual attacks" against Kiwi Farms.[23] While Cloudflare initially defended their decision to keep working with Kiwi Farms, on September 3, 2022, Cloudflare officially blocked the site from using its services.[6][24] People attempting to visit the site saw an error message explaining that the decision had been made due to "an imminent and emergency threat to human life".[25][26] Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince stated that the company acted because "the rhetoric on the Kiwifarms site and specific, targeted threats [had] escalated over the last 48 hours" at the time of the decision.[26][24] Other middleware providers, such as hCaptcha, followed suit in halting support for Kiwi Farms.[27][28] Moon has since claimed that the takedown of Kiwi Farms was "an organized attack", and that there is "a coalition of criminals trying to frame the forum for their behavior" which provides "opportunities for professional victims to amplify their message". Moon also commented that he did not see a realistic scenario for Kiwi Farms to stay online.[29] On September 6, 2022, The Daily Dot confirmed that VanwaTech was providing content delivery network services to the site, hence bringing it back online.[30][31] Other websites running on VanwaTech infrastructure experienced availability problems as a result, including The Daily Stormer and 8chan.[32]

Suicides of harassment targets

Harassment campaigns by Kiwi Farms users are known to have contributed to the suicides of at least three individuals.[15] The Kiwi Farms community considers it a goal to drive its targets to suicide, and has celebrated such deaths with a counter on the website.[33]: 55, 61  They have used social media reporting systems to mass-report posts by harassment targets in which they have expressed suicidal thoughts or intentions, with the goal of reducing the possibility their targets receive help.[33]: 91  Julie Terryberry, a Canadian woman, died by suicide in 2016 following sustained harassment from Kiwi Farms users.[9][10][12] Following Terryberry's death, Joshua Moon posted a note on the forum claiming that Kiwi Farms and its users had no responsibility for the suicide.[3] In a Twitter thread posted on June 27, 2021, Near, a pseudonymous Japan-based software developer known for their work on the video game emulator higan, described long-term harassment from Kiwi Farms users. Near, who was non-binary, said that they had endured lifelong bullying but that the abuse had recently centralized around Kiwi Farms, which had "made the harassment orders of magnitude worse".[5][11][34] Near stated that they and their friends had been doxxed and goaded into suicide by members of the website, and that Near had been mocked for being autistic.[5][11][34] On June 28, Hector Martin posted a link to a Google Doc which he said came from a mutual friend of his and Near's, which said that Near had died by suicide, and alleged that the harassment from Kiwi Farms amounted to murder.[11][34][35] Martin subsequently reported on June 28 that he had spoken to police who confirmed that Near had died the previous day.[11][35] USA Today reported on July 23, 2021, that it had confirmed with Near's former employer that they had died.[5]

Defamation lawsuit

Other controversies

Christchurch mosque shootings

In March 2019, Kiwi Farms republished both the livestream and the manifesto of Brenton Tarrant, the perpetrator of the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings. Shortly after, website owner Joshua Moon publicly denied a request by New Zealand Police to voluntarily hand over all data on posts about the shooting, including the email and IP addresses of forum posters.[36] Moon responded aggressively and mockingly, calling New Zealand a shithole country,[37][36] and stated that he did not "give a single solitary fuck what section 50 of your faggot law says about sharing [the New Zealand Police's] email."[38][39] He deemed the request a censorship attempt and maintained that New Zealand authorities "do not have the clout to eradicate a video from the Internet" and "do not have the legal reach to imprison everyone whose posted it."[37] Kiwi Farms was one of several websites blocked by New Zealand Internet service providers after the attack.[40] In New Zealand, those who were caught possessing or sharing images or videos of the attack faced charges that could result in 14-year prison sentences.[41][42]

My Immortal fan fiction authorship

Main article: My Immortal (fan fiction) § 2017: Rose Christo co-authorship claim

In 2017, Tumblr user and young adult fiction writer Rose Christo claimed that she had authored the Harry Potter fan fiction My Immortal, which, Christo said, she had written in order to find her missing brother. She announced that Macmillan Publishers was publishing a memoir, Under the Same Stars: The Search for My Brother and the True Story of My Immortal, about the fan fiction's creation as well as her childhood of abuse and experiences as a Native American in the New York foster care system. A forum thread concerning Christo and discussing her claims was created on Kiwi Farms. Christo's brother responded to the Kiwi Farms thread, saying that her story was nearly entirely false, including their Native American ancestry, their having gone to foster care, and her quest to locate her brother, which formed the center of the memoir.[43][44][better source needed] Christo then admitted that she had falsified documents supporting her story, but maintained that she had written My Immortal.[45] Macmillan Publishers canceled the publication of her memoir.[46][47]

References

  1. ↑ Dress, Brad (September 15, 2022). "Why anti-trans web forum Kiwi Farms was erased from the internet". The Hill. Archived from the original on September 15, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named LeMondeSep5
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named NewYork
  4. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named :8
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Dastagir, Alia E. (July 23, 2021). "'The internet is not a game. ... This stuff really hurts.' Respected developer who was bullied online dies by suicide". USA Today. Archived from the original on October 1, 2021. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Menn, Joseph; Lorenz, Taylor (September 3, 2022). "Under pressure, security firm Cloudflare drops KiwiFarms website where stalkers organize". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
  7. ↑ "Situation eskaliert: Hassplattform Kiwi Farms vom Netz genommen". Der Standard. September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  8. ↑ Baj, Lavender (July 13, 2021). "Kiwi Farms Has 14 Days To Find A New Domain Host After Being Booted Off DreamHost". Kotaku Australia. Archived from the original on October 1, 2021. Retrieved July 13, 2021.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Wodinsky, Shashona (June 29, 2021). "The Worst Site on the Web Gets DDoS'd After Being Connected to Prominent Developer's Suicide". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on June 29, 2021. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Wesolowski, Sébastien (May 27, 2020). "Vaches à lol: dans l'Internet qui harcèle pour s'amuser" [Lolcows: Inside the Internet which harasses for fun]. Vice (in français). Archived from the original on October 1, 2021. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 Kotaku Staff (June 28, 2021). "The Brilliant SNES Emulator Author Known As Near Has Died". Kotaku. Archived from the original on June 27, 2021. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Colombo, Charlotte (August 3, 2021). "Kiwi Farms, the forum that has been linked to 3 suicides, was made to troll Chris Chan years before she was arrested on an incest charge". Insider. Archived from the original on October 1, 2021. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  13. ↑ Hutton, Christopher (August 31, 2022). "Webhost says it won't take down website behind Marjorie Taylor Greene 'swatting'". The Washington Examiner. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  14. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named APDDoSGuard
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 [6][7][2][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]
  16. ↑ Hankes, Keegan (February 8, 2018). "Evidence of New Mexico school shooter's involvement in the racist 'alt-right' is overwhelming". Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on September 22, 2022. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
  17. ↑ Goodin, Dan (September 19, 2022). "Kiwi Farms has been breached; assume passwords and emails have been leaked". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on September 21, 2022. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
  18. ↑ Holt, K. (September 19, 2022). "Kiwi Farms says someone hacked its website". Engadget. Archived from the original on September 21, 2022. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
  19. ↑ Burns, Katelyn (September 10, 2022). "Opinion | Kiwi Farms is still a threat to free speech and safety". MSNBC.com. Archived from the original on September 17, 2022. Retrieved September 17, 2022.
  20. ↑ Newton, Casey (September 6, 2022). "How Cloudflare got Kiwi Farms wrong". The Verge. Archived from the original on September 7, 2022. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  21. ↑ Goforth, Claire (August 22, 2022). "Pressure grows on Cloudflare to drop Kiwi Farms after latest doxing campaign". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on August 22, 2022. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  22. ↑ Cole, Samantha (August 23, 2022). "People Are Demanding That Cloudflare Drop Kiwi Farms". Motherboard. Vice. Archived from the original on August 23, 2022. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  23. ↑ Collins, Ben; Tenbarge, Kat (September 2, 2022). "Anti-trans stalkers at Kiwi Farms are chasing one victim around the world. Their list of targets is growing". NBC News. Archived from the original on September 6, 2022. Retrieved September 6, 2022.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Feldman, Kate (September 4, 2022). "Cloudflare blocks internet forum Kiwi Farms over harassment of trans people – 'An unprecedented emergency and immediate threat to human life'". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  25. ↑ Collins, Ben (September 3, 2022). "Internet services company Cloudflare blocks Kiwi Farms citing targeted threats". NBC News. Archived from the original on September 3, 2022. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Alspach, Kyle (September 3, 2022). "Cloudflare has blocked Kiwi Farms due to 'escalated' threats". Protocol. Capitol News Company. Archived from the original on September 4, 2022. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
  27. ↑ Plunkett, Luke (September 4, 2022). "Hate Forum Kiwi Farms Flees To Russian Servers After Cloudflare Takes Site Offline". Kotaku. Archived from the original on September 5, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
  28. ↑ Farokhmanesh, Megan (September 8, 2022). "The End of Kiwi Farms, the Web's Most Notorious Stalker Site". Wired. Archived from the original on September 8, 2022. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  29. ↑ "Hate Forum Kiwi Farms Practically Dead As Owner Posts Conspiracy-Laden Rant". Kotaku. September 5, 2022. Archived from the original on September 5, 2022. Retrieved September 6, 2022.
  30. ↑ Goforth, Claire (September 6, 2022). "Kiwi Farms gets back online thanks to the same service that's kept 8kun alive". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on September 6, 2022. Retrieved September 6, 2022.
  31. ↑ "Hate-filled Kiwi Farms message board finds new home with Southwest Washington tech company". Oregon Public Broadcasting. Archived from the original on September 6, 2022. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
  32. ↑ Gilbert, David (September 9, 2022). "QAnon's Jim Watkins Tried to Save Kiwi Farms. Now His Site 8Kun Is Down". Vice. Archived from the original on September 21, 2022. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Veale, Kevin (2020). "Gaming the Rules". Gaming the Dynamics of Online Harassment. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 87–106. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-60410-3_4. ISBN 978-3-030-60410-3. S2CID 229257581.
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 Klepek, Patrick (June 29, 2021). "What I Learned From Near, an Emulation Legend and Real Person". Vice News. Archived from the original on June 29, 2021. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 Macgregor, Jody (June 28, 2021). "Near, creator of the higan and bsnes emulators, has died". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on June 30, 2021. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Bayer, Kurt (April 10, 2019). "Owner of notorious 8chan internet site in bid to deflect blame for role in Christchurch mosque terror attacks". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on May 4, 2019. Retrieved May 7, 2019.
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Newshub
  38. ↑ O'Neill, Marnie (March 19, 2019). "Website Kiwi Farms refuses to surrender data linked to accused Christchurch terrorist Brendan Tarrant". news.com.au. Archived from the original on March 18, 2019. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  39. ↑ "Christchurch mosque shootings: Website Kiwi Farms refuses to surrender data linked to accused". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on March 18, 2019. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  40. ↑ Rowe, Dan (March 19, 2019). "The online cesspits where hate found a home". The Spinoff. Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  41. ↑ Onyanga-Omara, Jane. "New Zealand mosque shootings: Six in court on charges they sent attack images". USA Today. Archived from the original on October 21, 2020. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  42. ↑ "Six Charged in New Zealand for Sharing Mosque Shooting Video Online". Rolling Stone. April 15, 2019. Archived from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
  43. ↑ Tremeer, Eleanor (October 5, 2017). "The Author Of 'My Immortal' Is A Fake And I Don't Know What To Believe Anymore". Movie Pilot. Archived from the original on October 5, 2017.
  44. ↑ "The 'My Immortal' mystery grows: Five new questions after the memoir's cancellation". Hypable. October 5, 2017. Archived from the original on June 28, 2021. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  45. ↑ Lee, Jarry (October 3, 2017). "The "My Immortal" Book Is No Longer Going To Be Published". BuzzFeed. Archived from the original on October 5, 2017. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  46. ↑ Romano, Aja (October 9, 2017). "The My Immortal memoir has been canceled, and the mystery of the notorious fanfic deepens". Vox. Archived from the original on August 27, 2019. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  47. ↑ Lai, Catherine (October 5, 2017). "Memoir of "My Immortal" Author Canceled amid Accusations of Falsehoods". MuggleNet. Archived from the original on August 27, 2019. Retrieved August 27, 2019.

External links

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