Who started 4chan
Executive summary
4chan">Christopher Poole — known online as “moot” — founded the anonymous English-language imageboard 4chan in October 2003, creating the site when he was a teenager and drawing on Japanese imageboard culture and forums he frequented [1][2][3]. Poole ran 4chan as its head administrator until stepping down in January 2015 and ultimately selling the site to Hiroyuki Nishimura, founder of Japan’s 2channel, later that year [1][4].
1. Origins: a teenager builds an imageboard from 2chan’s template
4chan began as an English-language counterpart to Japanese anonymous textboards, built by Christopher Poole in October 2003 using translated source code and cultural inspiration from 2chan and its offshoot 2channel, which Poole had frequented as a teen and cited as a direct model [1][2][4]. Poole adopted the pseudonym “moot” online and launched the site as a place for anime and manga fans, quickly expanding as users repurposed the format for memes and ephemeral image threads [2][5].
2. Who Christopher Poole is, and how he guarded his identity
Poole was born in New York City in 1987 or 1988 and, as a young founder, took extensive steps to protect his real-world identity while operating 4chan, going by “moot” and the alias Robert “Bob” Bopkins in some contexts until mainstream outlets revealed his name in 2008 [1]. Journalists and profiles portray him as an advocate for anonymity and “radical opacity” online, contrasting him in public commentary with figures who favor transparent social networks [1][3].
3. From creative chaos to notoriety: 4chan’s cultural footprint under Poole
Under Poole’s stewardship, 4chan became an incubator for many internet memes and creative phenomena — from LOLcats and Rickrolling to the loose collective known as Anonymous — while also serving as a site of coordinated trolling, hacks, and real-world activist episodes that drew sustained media attention and controversy [3][5][6]. Major incidents tied to the site’s culture, including high-profile celebrity photo leaks and harassment campaigns, intensified scrutiny of 4chan and of Poole’s stewardship [7][8].
4. Transition of control: stepping down and the sale to Nishimura
Poole announced his resignation as head administrator in January 2015 after more than eleven years running the site and moved to hand day-to-day control to anonymous moderators while seeking a buyer [1]. In September 2015 Poole sold 4chan to Hiroyuki Nishimura — the founder of 2channel, the original Japanese influence on 4chan — a transaction Poole framed as placing the site in the hands of someone “qualified” to manage an anonymous community [4][1].
5. After 4chan: Poole’s career and the limits of attribution
After leaving active management, Poole moved into corporate tech, joining Google in 2016 as part of social product teams before departing the company in 2021, a post-4chan trajectory widely reported in technology press [9][7]. It is documented that Poole created and led 4chan and later sold it, but debates continue over how much responsibility a founder bears for a platform’s cultural evolution once users and emergent communities take control — a nuance reflected in profiles that both credit his role and emphasize user-driven dynamics [3][4].
6. Contested narratives: founder, steward, or something in between?
Reporting consistently identifies Christopher Poole as the person who started 4chan, yet accounts diverge on emphasis: some profiles stress his creative and technical role in founding and maintaining an influential online space [2][4], while critiques highlight the platform’s subsequent abuses and ask whether Poole’s philosophy of anonymity enabled toxic outcomes [7][8]. Sources confirm the fact of Poole’s founding and later sale of the site but also show competing interpretations about his legacy and the limits of founder responsibility [1][3][4].