How the founder of 8chan went from creating the 'darkest reaches of the internet' while on psychedelic mushrooms to calling for it to be shut down

Brennan voluntarily left 8chan and ceded control of the site to its current operator, Jim Watkins, in 2015, according to reports from the Journal and the Times. He continued to work for Watkins until December.

Although Brennan only recently called for the site he created to be shut down, he expressed concern over 8chan's link to the mass shooting that occurred in New Zealand several months ago. He told the Journal in March that he believed the site's current administrators were too slow to take down posts from the New Zealand shooter Brenton Tarrant, and said that he has "no desire" to ever be involved in the image board world again.

"It was very difficult in the days that followed to know that I had created that site," Brennan said to the Journal following the New Zealand shooting. "It wouldn't surprise me if this happens again."

Brennan's comments about shutting down 8chan appear to be in contrast to his views from 2015, when he spoke with Ars Technica about why anonymity could be beneficial for the internet, among other topics. In that interview, he suggested that closing sites like 8chan and 4chan wouldn't help when it comes to stopping toxic content from spreading.

"If you shut down 4chan, shut down 8chan, you're just pushing it under the rug," he said to Ars Technica. "Underground, it's just gonna get worse."

Now, Brennan has shifted his thinking, telling the Times that shutting down sites like 8chan may stop such attacks from occurring so often.

"Shutting it down, having these chan sites pushed underground, it wouldn't totally stop these kinds of things from happening," he said to the Times. "But it wouldn't happen every few months."