4chan has often been the subject of media attention as a source of controversies, including the coordination of pranks and harassment against websites and Internet users, and the posting of illegal and offensive content. The site has been described as a hub of Internet subculture, with its community being influential in the formation of prominent Internet memes, such as lolcats, Rickrolling and rage comics, as well as hacktivist and political movements, such as Anonymous and the alt-right. Ĥchan was created as an unofficial English-language counterpart to the Japanese imageboard Futaba Channel, also known as 2chan, and its first boards were created for posting images and discussion related to anime. As of May 2021, 4chan receives more than 20 million unique monthly visitors, with more than 900,000 posts made daily. Registration is not available and users typically post anonymously posting is ephemeral, as threads receiving recent replies are ' bumped' to the top of their respective board and old threads are deleted as new ones are created. Launched by Christopher 'moot' Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from anime and manga to video games, music, literature, fitness, politics, and sports, among others.
4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website.
