THE Philippine National Police (PNP) welcomed on Wednesday, August 7, the willingness of the creator of the Philippine-based website, 8chan, to cooperate as the security forces conduct investigation on its links to the mass shooting incidents in the United States (US).
"We welcome the availability of the founder of 8chan for possible interview to share relevant information that can assist in our investigation," PNP spokesman Brigadier General Bernard Banac said.
However, Banac noted that whatever the result of the investigation being conducted by the Anti-Cybercrime Group will be, their actions will be limited to what the country’s law mandates.
On Tuesday, August 6, PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde has ordered the investigation on 8chan, which was tagged as “megaphone for mass shooters” and is being used as a platform to post racist commentaries.
It is owned by Fredrick Brennan who has lived in the Philippines for more than a decade now.
On Sunday, mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton Ohio killed 22 and 9 people, respectively.
Hours before the mass shooting, the 21-year-old suspect in Texas shooting allegedly posted a four-page message on the said website and encouraged his “brothers” to spread its contents.
He particularly expressed his anger against immigrants, especially Latin Americans.
The site was also used by the suspect in the shooting spree of two mosques in Christchurch in New Zealand which resulted in the killing of 51 people.
In an interview with Reuters, Brennan said he created 8chan in 2013, but sold it to a fellow American.
It has since become “a hive of white supremacy, anonymous hate, and Neo-Nazism”, Brennan said.
He admitted feeling guilty “sometimes” for creating a website which he said had turned into a monster.
"If I could go back and not create 8chan at all, I probably would," he said.
"It's gotten to a point where if a mass shooter wants to go to a killing spree, they choose 8chan to post their manifesto," Brennan said.
He said he is willing to tell everything he know about the site in order to help the PNP in its investigation. (SunStar Philippines)