YouTube/CwcvilleGuardian
- Kiwi Farms originated as a forum dedicated to Christine Chandler before it was rebranded in 2015.
- The site describes itself as a "community dedicated to discussing eccentric people."
- The audio recording in which Chandler purportedly admitted to incest was leaked on the site.
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Kiwi Farms, an image-sharing website and forum where users discuss online personalities, describes itself on its homepage as a "community dedicated to discussing eccentric people who voluntarily make fools of themselves."
But the internet forum was initially launched in 2009 as an imageboard called CWCiki to catalog the online history of Christine Weston Chandler, who is also known as "Chris Chan" or "Sonichu" online.
Chandler was arrested on Sunday and charged with incest two days after an audio recording originally posted on Kiwi Farms purported to include Chandler discussing raping her mother, as Insider previously reported.
According to New York Magazine, CWCiki began after people trolled Chandler since her homemade "Sonichu" drawings and comics started to go viral among communities on 4chan, an imageboard popular on the far-right. It was founded when Chandler was added to the "troll archive" Encyclopedia Dramatica, New York Magazine reported.
CWCiki users built up an archive of what New York Magazine called "every drawing, video blog, tweet, Facebook post, eBay listing, Etsy item, and PSN purchase Chandler [has made]" since its launch in 2009.
In addition to archiving and documenting Chandler's digital footprint, CWCiki users played an active role in hacking and leaking Chandler's personal details and taking photos and recordings of Chandler, New York Magazine reported.
According to KnowYourMeme, the site was renamed Kiwi Farms in February 2015. This renaming came after the site shifted focus from not just discussing Chandler, but any online figure or personality that users classify as "lolcows" - in other words, people who could be "milked for laughs," usually without their knowledge or awareness.
Still, documentation of Chandler's life continues to have a major presence on Kiwi Farms.
Here's how the platform got started.
Kiwi Farms has been run by Joshua 'Null' Moon since 2013
Although there is no known founder for the initial CWCiki site, Joshua Moon, who goes by the name "Null" online, started hosting the site in 2013 before transforming it into Kiwi Farms two years later.
Moon is colloquially referred to by CWCiki moderators as one of Chandler's "Guard Dogs," with them noting how he often tries to help Chandler. Most recently, it is alleged that Moon launched a GoFundMe to help Chan attend a convention.
Posting on his admin account as "Null," Moon said in a Kiwi Farms post on July 31 that he was cutting off contact with Chandler.
Moon did not respond to inquiries from Insider.
Three people identified as 'lolcows' on Kiwi Farms have died by suicide
Between 2016 and 2021, at least three suicides were linked to Kiwi Farms.
Friends of indie game developer Chloe Sagal, who took her own life in June 2018, told Oregon Live that she had been subject to harassment by Kiwi Farms users after it was revealed in 2013 that a crowdfunding campaign Sagal claimed was for metal poisoning was actually for sexual reassignment surgery.
The death of Julie Terryberry, who took her own life in 2o16, has been linked to Kiwi Farms by news outlets like Vice and Gizmodo. According to Vice, Terryberry was targeted by Kiwi Farms users prior to taking her own life due to her polyamory and appearance.
-Near (@near_koukai) June 27, 2021
On June 27, a software developer posted a Twitter thread accusing Kiwi Farms of "making the harassment orders of magnitude worse. It's escalated from attacking me for being autistic to attacking and doxing my friends, and trying to suicide bait another, just to get a reaction from me."
It was later reported by USA Today that Near had taken their own life. Moon, the founder of Kiwi Farms, later posted a statement on the site denying responsibility for the death.
Vice reported on July 13 that Kiwi Farms had lost its domain registrar, with DreamHost allegedly giving the site fourteen days to find a new home. The site then moved to a Russian domain before finding a new US-based one, but remains live.
Kiwi Farms was also linked to the 2019 Christchurch terror attack
Brenton Harris Tarrant, the shooter who opened fire on dozens of worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 15, 2019, allegedly posted on Kiwi Farms before carrying out the attacks.
The New Zealand Herald reported that police asked Moon to turn over all posts by Tarrant, but he declined to release the records.
Moon did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Read more stories from Insider's Digital Culture team.