To block the hate-filled message forum the internet services company says an “immediate threat to human life”.
On Saturday, Internet infrastructure company Cloudflare said that it’s blocking Kiwi Farms, a message board known for organizing harassment campaigns. As the reason for its actions, Cloudflare cited an “unprecedented emergency and immediate threat to human life”.
In a blog post authored by CEO Matthew Prince Cloudflare said, “We have blocked Kiwi Farms”. “To this post we will see a Cloudflare block page and link visitors to any of the Kiwi Farms sites that use any of Cloudflare’s services”.
Kiwi Farms may move their sites to other providers and while doing so they come back online. But, on the other hand, we have taken some steps to block their content from being accessed through our infrastructure.”
He believed that it is “a dangerous one that we are not comfortable with” according to the Prince point of view, it an “extraordinary decision,” and he added that given Cloudflare’s role as an Internet infrastructure provider.
Matthew Prince, Cloudflare CEO and co-founder, in a blog post said, “The rhetoric on the Kiwifarms site and specific, targeted threats have escalated over the last 48 hours. This has been done to believe that there is an unprecedented emergency and immediate threat to human life unlike we have previously seen from Kiwifarms or any other customer before”.
The company handles abuse after Prince and Cloudflare global public policy chief Alissa Starzak acknowledged the decision in the coming days. It indicated services would continue for Kiwi Farms but that post did not reference Kiwi Farms by name.
The blog post said that the terminating security services for content that our team personally feels is disgusting and immoral would be the popular choice. “In the long term to support oppressed and marginalized voices against attacks in the long term such choices make it more difficult.”
In 2019 after publicly pulling support for the message board 8chan Cloudflare made headlines, known for harboring violent hate speech and where the gunman who killed 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso posted his manifesto. To the white supremacist site Daily Stormer Cloudflare had earlier terminated its services.
Cloudflare ofers a wide range of services to digital clients, from cyber security to web hosting, faced criticism recently for providing security services to Kiwi Farms, whose users have harassed transgender people and doxxed where a campaign that specifically targeted a popular trans Twitch streamer pushed her into hiding.
Clara Sorrenti, The streamer and activist, known as Keffals on social media, detailed in videos that her experiences being doxxed when someone’s private information is published online. After a hoax 911 call typically in cyberbullying and cyberattack scenarios and swatted, a cybercrime that aims to send armed emergency personnel to a victim’s residence.
By Keffals the #DropKiwiFarms campaign was started where she detailed her experience. Keffals celebrated Cloudflare’s decision, titled in a blog post that the battle is won but the war is not over.
The #DropKiwiFarms campaign said in a statement that “Today Cloudflare has dropped the notorious far-right hate forum Kiwi Farms”. The CEO Matthew Prince noted that “In the last 48 hours on the website threats against human life have been escalating, and happening in a much faster manner than law enforcement is able to keep up with.
For over a decade Kiwi Farms has been around, and in the site’s history at no point have come under this much fire. Against online harassment and hate this is a historical moment where thousands of people have stood up and taken a stance.”
With Cloudflare’s decision the campaign warned that although they are happy, “that doesn’t mean we should rest on our laurels.”
“Today while we should celebrate, this may not be the end of their community. “If we continue to stand together and fight back, we can see this until the end, and we have shown that when united together we are capable of moving mountains”, later the post added.
Source:- https://bloggerstow.com/due-to-increase-in-threats-cloudflare-blocks-forum-kiwi-farms/
