8chan owner testifies to Congress about extremism on the site

Enlarge / The dome of the United State Capitol Building in Washington, DC. (credit: Getty Images | Phil Roeder)

The owner of infamous imageboard site 8chan, James Watkins, is appearing today in Washington, DC to provide evidence to the House Committee on Homeland Security about the site. Though the live session will take place behind closed doors, Watkins submitted written testimony ahead of his appearance that hints at the direction the hearing—and 8chan's future—may take.

The committee requested the hearing about a month ago, following the mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, that resulted in 22 deaths. "This is at least the third act of white supremacist extremist violence linked to your website this year," the committee noted in a letter to Watkins (PDF), referring also to the April mass shooting at a synagogue in California and the March mass shooting at a mosque in New Zealand. "Americans deserve to know what, if anything, you, as the owner and operator, are doing to address the proliferation of extremist content on 8chan."

"Contrary to some rather noisy folks," Watkins said in his written response (PDF), "my company is law abiding and we understand that the restriction of some speech is necessary." That said, he added, "My company has no intention of deleting constitutionally protected hate speech."