Screenshot/YouTube – @CwcvilleGuardian
- Chris Chan, who is facing an incest charge, has been targeted by numerous trolling campaigns online.
- Chan initially went viral after a derisive thread was written about her and "Sonichu" in 2007.
- Some of Chan's many trolls include "BlueSpike," "Liquid Chris," and the "Idea Guys."
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On Sunday, the internet personality Christine Weston Chandler, also known as Chris Chan, was arrested and charged with incest after a leaked audio recording purported to include Chandler, 39, admitting to having sex with her 79-year-old mother.
Chandler became notorious online for creating the early web meme "Sonichu," an eerie blend of the video game cartoon characters Pikachu and Sonic the Hedgehog.
Chandler is known for being one of the biggest targets of trolling and cyberbullying on the internet.
Chan skyrocketed into virality because of trolls
According to the internet culture website KnowYourMeme, Chan has been active on the internet since 1999, but it wasn't until 2007 that she surged into viral fame because of trolling. A picture of Sonichu was reportedly shared on the fringe message board 4chan, which led to a derisive article being written about Chan on the pseudo-Wikipedia-troll database Encyclopedia Dramatica.
According to KnowYourMeme, Chan discovered the article soon after it was written and spent months trying to edit it to reflect a more positive image of her.
Two of the earliest major trolling controversies to swell around Chan involved online personas who went by the names "BlueSpike" and "Liquid Chris."
According to CWCki, a website that compiles information about Chan along with unverified Skype chat logs and purported emails, the former troll allegedly manipulated Chan in 2009 through two fake identities and coaxed her into recording an inappropriate video of herself.
Meanwhile, CWCki alleges that Liquid Chris attempted to impersonate Chan via an impostor YouTube channel in 2009 and trolled the internet star until 2011 when the troll reportedly deleted their account.
Although the impersonator's YouTube is deactivated, some of the videos are archived online.
Trolls created a message board dedicated to chronicling Chan's online history
New York Magazine reported that Kiwi Farms, an online message board dedicated to sharing personal information about and plotting trolling campaigns against internet figures, was originally formed in 2013 by groups who had harassed Chandler in 2007.
Kiwi Farms' founder, Joshua Moon, came under fire in 2019 after he refused to give authorities Kiwi Farms posts, pictures, and other data related to the Christchurch, New Zealand, shooting that left 51 people dead.
The forum's express purpose was to mock "lolcows," or people whose behavior could be exploited for laughs.
As New York Magazine reported, Kiwi Farms users have harassed Chandler incessantly over the years, doing everything from stalking and taking photos of her house in real life to posing as romantic partners.
Kiwi Farms' trolling campaigns have been connected to several suicides, including the transgender game developer Chloe Sagal and the emulator creator "Near," who also went by "Byuu."
The purported troll group 'Idea Guys' allegedly extorted and coerced Chan
One of the most fabled groups to allegedly troll, harass, and manipulate Chan was dubbed the "Idea Guys," which reportedly had four members and launched a seven-month campaign against Chan from October 2017 to April 2018, according to CWCki.
CWCki alleges that the Idea Guys extorted Chan for money and coerced her into performing degrading acts.
"While I was spending time and making good with my mama, 'Idea Guy' got into my brain and turned me against her," Chan said in a November update video posted to her YouTube, CwcvilleGuardian, which has 52,000 subscribers.
Moon has not responded to a request for comment from Insider.
Charlotte Colombo contributed reporting.
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