Decoding Kiwi Farms, the blocked Internet bully that continues to be a nuisance (2024)

Immediately after being blocked by hosting provider Cloudflare, Kiwi Farms was also, on Monday, September 5, turned away by DDoS-Guard, its backup solution. The Russian company, which explained its decision in a press release published on messaging app Telegram, was more reactive than Cloudflare, which took several days to act following a harassment campaign targeting Canadian streamer and transgender activist Clara "Keffals" Sorrenti, lead by members of Kiwi Farms.

Accessing the site kiwifarms.ru was in fact impossible as of the afternoon of September 5, according to the findings of Le Monde. But if the activity on the forum is strongly disrupted, its members are not out of action. They could fall back on another service provider or migrate to another forum. The violence of the harassment against "Keffals," as well as the weeks of pressure on Cloudflare, have highlighted the underbelly of a determined community that is not at its first raid.

What is Kiwi Farms?

Kiwi Farms is a discussion forum dedicated to online harassment. Its members – there are 16,000 daily logins according to its administrators – meet there to plan, organize and coordinate targeted harassment operations against Internet celebrities, mainly feminists or trans rights activists, people suffering from psychological problems, journalists, people from the world of video games or comics, and even some personalities from the American far right.

It is on the forum's main section, "lolcows," that users discuss the targets of harassment campaigns, justifying these attacks by the fact that they "have eccentric behaviors and can be milked for fun."

How was this forum created?

Kiwi Farms was created in 2013, before taking its current name in 2014. Its creator, Joshua Moon, nicknamed "Null," is a former administrator of the unmoderated forum 8chan. This alternative to the 4chan forum is considered one of the most extremist, racist and hateful online forums. "Null created Kiwi Farms with the clear purpose of harassing an online comic book author, who had already been the subject of an intense harassment campaign on 4chan for several years.

What is its modus operandi?

Kiwi Farms users engage in long-term and particularly violent harassment: insults, hacking, threats, swatting (calling the police under false pretenses to send law enforcement to the victim's home)... The forum claims to have led to the suicide of at least three of its designated victims.

Is this forum legal?

Kiwi Farms prides itself on not complying with the laws, and publishes requests for information and other judicial requisitions, that are sent to it and that it never responded to. Since 2019, the site has been blocked in New Zealand, after refusing to hand over information about its users who had posted the manifesto and video of the perpetrator of the Christchurch attack. "Null," its owner, is believed to live in the Philippines.