4chan, a web based discussion board primarily utilized by younger males and avid gamers, skilled an outage in April 2025. The outage got here months after a number of different social media platforms went down for quite a lot of points. Shortly after 4chan’s outage began, customers speculated a couple of attainable hacking situation. So, is 4chan nonetheless down, and was it hacked?
Discover out extra in regards to the on-line discussion board under.
What Is 4chan?
4chan was based in 2003 by entrepreneur and web developer Christopher Poole. On the time, Poole was nonetheless simply a teen. 4chan started as a discussion board to share anime and manga discussions amongst particular fandoms, however it morphed into a picture board the place far-right customers have shared controversial posts. A lot of the controversial photos and memes shared had been deleted by moderators.
Moreover, 4chan is principally utilized by younger males. Among the many most controversial situations on the platform was 2014’s “Gamergate” when male customers shared a slew of misogynistic messages and campaigns towards ladies. On account of Gamergate, the separate platform 8chan was created, however it’s not owned by the identical group as 4chan.
Why Is 4chan Down?
Stories rose about 4chan’s outage to greater than 1,100 within the night hours on April 14, 2015. The next day, experiences decreased, however the website was nonetheless down for a lot of via the afternoon on April 15.
On the time of publication, 4chan has not publicly revealed the rationale behind its web site’s outage. Nevertheless, as most web customers know, a number of know-how and social media platforms have skilled widespread outages in latest months, together with Meta’s Fb, Instagram and WhatsApp, and X (previously referred to as Twitter). In March 2025, X’s proprietor, Elon Musk, claimed the platform fell sufferer to a cyber assault.
Was 4chan Hacked?
It’s unclear if 4chan was hacked, however rumors rapidly unfold throughout social media in regards to the shutdown. On Reddit, one consumer wrote that, whereas unconfirmed, the web site’s “supply code, consumer’s names, emails, and probably even IP addresses have been uncovered.”
4chan has not publicly addressed the hacking rumors on the time of publication.
