On March 7, Google announced that it had hired Chris Poole, a well-known and controversial internet figure, to help them advance their social media endeavours. Poole, better known as “moot” is most famous for the similarly well-known and controversial website known as 4chan. Google’s social media efforts—primarily Google+—on the other hand, are infamous for being ineffective, unpopulated, and generally unsuccessful.
In Poole’s announcement on his blog, he states that he “…can’t wait to contribute [his] own experience from a dozen years of building online communities…,” a probably sign that he will be working on Google+ or some other venture designed to make Google more of a social media powerhouse. While it will be interesting to see how this will manifest itself, and if Poole’s experience will be helpful, the real news story here is that a globally-recognized publically-traded company hired a person whose website brings together everyone from animal-protection advocates to neo-Nazis.
The website, of course, is 4chan. Poole created 4chan in 2003 as an image board for anime fans; someone could post a picture, along with some text, and others could respond with pictures or text of their own. Before long, the anonymity of 4chan attracted all sorts of people who were looking for free speech. In September 2015, Poole sold 4chan to 2channel, the anime and Japanese culture board that had originally inspired Poole to make 4chan.
While Poole may no longer be the owner of 4chan, his name (or more specifically, moot) is still strongly associated with it. This also means that he is associated with the tremendous amount of good and bad things 4chan has done over the years. This includes bullying, harassment, practical jokes, and supporting good causes, sometimes both at the same time.
For instance, in 2009, Kenny Glenn posted two youtube videos showing him abusing a cat named Dusty. Members of 4chan and Anonymous, the 4chan-based hacktivist network, managed to get enough identifying information out of the videos to identify Glenn, passing his details on to the police. At the same time, Glenn’s personal information was widely distributed, leading to numerous personal threats being made to him or posted online.
In a similarly high-profile, but less honourable case, the iCloud photos of celebrities that were leaked in 2014 were originally posted to 4chan. Other less-savoury aspects of 4chan also taint Poole’s reputation: one board is famously anti-Semetic, racist, antifeminist, and popular with neo-Nazis. Another has been known to share, among other things, child pornography.
Poole’s joining Google is definitely a surprise, given all the good and bad baggage he brings from 4chan. If he can save the long-doomed Google+, that too will be a surprise.
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