Kiwi Farms, an internet cesspit that has spawned countless hate campaigns over the last decade, has finally had concrete action taken against it after Cloudflare, an internet security provider, virtually shut down the site.
Clara Keffals Sorrenti, a trans political commentator and streamer, was forced to flee her house following threats from users of the site, which resulted in the use of the hashtag #DropKiwifarms, an effort to target Cloudflare, the forum's security provider, and persuade them to abandon support for the site.
Cloudflare was initially reluctant to budge on the issue, but they retaliated last week and blocked Kiwi Farms, despite going to great lengths to explain in a blog post that the decision was down to specific, targeted threats rather than the enormous public relations backlash related to the organization's continued support of a forum that existed solely to percolate the very worst of the internet's worst people:
Because of the pressure campaign, we are not taking this action directly. As a security provider, we are committed to protecting our customers even when they fall foul of popular opinion or even our own morals.
Matthew Prince writes in his blog that this is an unusual decision for us to make and, given Cloudflare's role as an Internet infrastructure provider, a dangerous one that we are not familiar with. There is no such thing as an apolitical systems provider. It's amazing that Cloudflare has managed to do the right thing in the worst way possible.
The site is ineffective at the time of its creation, and anyone wanting to visit Kiwi Farms will receive the following message:
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Several other developments have occurred in the wake of the Cloudflares move. hCaptcha, the provider of the forums captcha security, has also suspended Kiwi Farms, alleging that the sites' vile and violent content violates their terms:
Kiwi Farms has since moved to Russian servers, according to Frank Figliuzzi, a former Assistant Director of the FBI. Users may easily become a significant threat to domestic terror, according to NBC's national security analyst:
The #DropKiwifarms team issued a statement in response to Cloudflares' delayed announcement.
THE BATTLE IS WON, BUT THE WAR IS NOT OVER.
SEPTEMBER 3RD, 2022
Kiwi Farms is a well-known far-right hate forum hosted by Cloudflare for over a decade, and yet they have been effected in a much faster manner than law enforcement is capable of keeping up with. This is a historic moment in which tens of thousands of individuals have taken a stand against online bullying and hate.
Were happy with the decision that Cloudflare made, and this is a major setback to Kiwi Farms and their community, one they may never recover from. However, this may not be the end of their community. We have shown that when united together, we may be able to see this until the end.
Kiwi Farms will remain active as long as the website remains active. Fiberhub, a company based in Las Vegas, is where the servers that host the website are located and serviced. Unless Kiwi Farms ever becomes active again, we must exert the same pressure on FiberHub as we did on Cloudflare. Otherwise the website will remain online and operational for the foreseeable future.
We should pay tribute to all of our hard work. We did what no one else could do. However, this is not the end. If we want to see Kiwi farms and communities like theirs, we must continue fighting.
The Kiwi Farms Campaign has been dropped.