The costs of running 4chan were too high and Nishimura suggested that the site would close soon. Nishimura tried to cleave the site in two, leaving 4chan intact with its obscene and pornographic boards, but creating a safe-for-work alternative, attractive to advertisers, on 4channel. Both sites rely on the same self-serve advertising platform. 4chan is mostly used to show ads for porn, while 4channel is used to show ads for games.
According to Similarweb, both 4chan and 4channel are within the 1,000 most popular websites in the world.
The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol sent a letter to 4chan last August, asking it to preserve documents that could shed light on the insurrection. Congressional investigators want to know what role 4chan played in the storming of the Capitol building.
The committee wouldn't say if 4chan responded to the request or if Nishimura would be called to testify.
4chan is incorporated in Delaware and has businesses in several states. The company listed on the 4chan website is incorporated in Delaware. 4chan's American headquarters is listed as Los Angeles in documents filed with the state of New York. The address of both limited liability companies is a post office box.
Nishimura has said that he is based in Paris, but he mused about getting a visa for Latvia.
4chan doesn't seem to have a physical office in the US. There is another Japanese company with offices in Los Angeles, which could explain a lot about the image board.
Disney, Warner Brothers, and a host of other American and Japanese companies have licensed the Nendoroids brand of plastic figures from The Good Smile Company. WIRED asked Disney, Warner Brothers, and Marvel if they had anything to say.
The Nendoroid of Yotsuba Koiwai was released by Good Smile, which is also the unofficial mascot of 4chan. One fan wrote "4chan represent!" on the photo-sharing site.
Many of Good Smile's toys, which are marketed with sexually suggestive language, are popular on 4chan.
Good Smile is more involved in 4chan than it lets on, according to sources with knowledge of the company. WIRED isn't naming the sources who are afraid of repercussions for speaking out.
Internal Good Smile documents obtained by WIRED reference a confidentiality agreement that was signed in April of 2015, five months before Nishimura was announced as the buyer. The executive responsible for the five-year is named in one document as a party in the consideration of M and A.
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