Cloudflare—Cloudflare terminated 8chan after El Paso mass shooting manifesto posted on site
In August 2019, Cloudflare dropped 8chan (later rebranded 8kun) as a customer after the El Paso Walmart shooting, where the gunman posted a white supremacist manifesto on the site. CEO Matthew Prince cited 8chan's repeated role as a platform for mass shooting manifestos. This was only the second time Cloudflare had terminated a customer for content.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Content Moderation | +toward | primary | +1.00 |
| Infrastructure Accountability | +toward | secondary | +0.50 |
| Overall incident score = | +0.559 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.66)× agency (reactive ×0.75)
Evidence (2 signals)
Cloudflare CEO blog post on terminating 8chan services
CEO Matthew Prince published a blog post explaining Cloudflare's decision to terminate 8chan, citing the site's role as a platform for mass shooting manifestos and its unwillingness to moderate content.
The Verge report on Cloudflare terminating 8chan after El Paso shooting
The Verge reported on Cloudflare's decision to terminate services for 8chan following the El Paso mass shooting, noting CEO Matthew Prince's statement that 8chan had 'proven themselves to be lawless' and the site's role hosting manifestos from three mass shooters in 2019.