Chris Poole brings success and a bit of infamy to the Internet giant. Photo by Rex Hammock – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Google has hired Chris Poole, founder of the controversial online community 4chan and known to many by his online screen name, “moot.’’
Poole announced the move on his Tumblr page, saying he is drawn to “Googlers … their intelligence, passion and enthusiasm,’’ and impressed by Google’s commitment to tackling “some of the world’s most interesting and important problems.’’
“I can’t wait to contribute my own experience from a dozen years of building online communities, and to begin the next chapter of my career at such an incredible company,’’ he wrote.
Poole founded 4chan in 2003 when he was a 15-year-old student in New York City. Users post anonymously to the image board, which is split into categories, including Japanese culture, interests and adult.
Poole intended 4chan to be a place for discussing Japanese comics and anime. However, over time, the site gained a reputation for online abuse, trolling and harassment, thanks to its strictly anonymous format. It devolved from mostly family-friendly memes, such as the popular Lolcats and Rickrolling, to more objectionable content involving racism, homophobia and action against women.
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4chan gained even more notoriety when hackers posted to the site private and nude photos and videos of more than 100 female celebrities, including Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence. Poole attempted to crack down on these illegal activities but got push back from 4chan loyalists. He finally left the site in early 2015.
Last fall, 4chan was sold for an undisclosed amount to Hiroyuko Nishimura, a Japanese web entrepreneur who created 2channel, the inspiration for Poole’s site.
Many speculate that Poole’s move to Google is intended to help the Internet giant tackle social media against its big rival Facebook. In November, Google pulled back on its multi-year effort to make Google+ the digital connection between all of Google’s services, such as Gmail, YouTube and its web browser Chrome.
While Google certainly was well aware of misgivings about 4chan, it also knows the site was successful in creating memes that broke into the mainstream of web users and the media. On his Google+ page, Bradley Horowitz, Google’s vice president of streams, photos and sharing, said he is ‘‘thrilled’’ Poole is joining the team.
