Earlier this evening THQ Nordic tweeted they would be holding an AMA on 8Chan which sounded interesting, and although the site name rang a few alarm bells I had never heard of it so clicked in. Well, that was a mistake, I suddenly had rather a lot of hardcore porn on my screen.
A quick Google afterwards reveals that 8Chan is the home of child pornography, racism, the militant Antifa movement, and an awful lot of other nasty stuff. Quite why THQ Nordic thought it was a good idea to host an AMA there beggars belief, one quick search revealed it’s not the place to talk about video games, but they did and are now having to do a lot of damage control.
“I personally agreed to this AMA without doing my proper due diligence to understand the history and the controversy of the site. I do not condone child pornography, white supremacy, or racism in any shape or form,” tweeted Philipp Brock, PR & Marketing Director THQ Nordic.
“I am terribly sorry for the short-sightedness of my (!) decision, and promise to be far more vigorous in my assessment of these activities in the future. This was not about being edgy, this blew up and I very much regret to have done it in the first place.”
Apparently they were assured someone “will take care of the nasty stuff” but the moderator couldn’t keep up with vile comments and images being posted. However, despite being alerted to the nature of the site and all the porn, nazi, and racist comments being posted, the AMA continued. Brock was asked why this was and said “I was fucking overwhelmed with a plethora of different emotions to be honest.”
“I am not a white supremacist, nor into child pornography, nor do I think this AMA was smart in hindsight and if I could, I would undo,” he added.
Phizzy
‘The antifa movement’ – I don’t think you even know what you typed there
Old School
That Antifa are a violent terrorist movement? They are. They fit right in on 8chan, with the other extremists.
Tuffcub
There are militant Antifa groups who engage in “property damage, physical violence, and harassment ” and those can be found on that site. Those are the groups I meant, have updated the post to make it clear it’s the nasty lot not the peaceful type.
Phizzy
Oh dear. Both of you need to do some reading. Unfortunately I’m not here to teach.
Old School
@Phizzy You think Antifa are peaceful? You need to do some research. Their whole mantra is to punch people they call Nazis. And their definition of what qualifies as a Nazi is anyone with a different opinion.
Antifa are just as bad as any far right white nationalist movement. But I’m not a far left, or far right extremist, so I won’t defend a violent movement just because I agree with their politics… Unlike you.
Phizzy
Okay I get it, you’re a big fan of Nazis and don’t want to see them bruised. Have fun with that. Absolute melt.
MrYd
There’s a part of me that wants to see what actually happened now.
But also a much bigger part of me instantly thought “No, let’s not go there and see what happened. I’ll have to burn my PC afterwards, and I’ll probably end up on several lists”
What were they thinking???
Does the “Whoops, we screwed up, we’re not really in favour of racism” defense really work just 2 weeks after buying a studio run by some racist gamergate tosser? Although if you’re on a mission to buy everything that’s not nailed down, you probably can’t avoid scooping up a few racists along the way.
MOVE
I read that as Anti-Fifa movement; THAT I would support!
Tuffcub
Actually what I typed the first time. Should have left it like that :)