I think it's far-right representation has certainly grown over time, probably largely as a function of right-wing speech being pushed out of other platforms.
However 4chan has always had, and continues to have quite broad demographics, it attracts extremes, by nature of it's low moderation and permissive content policies.
Some examples of left wing associated content could be it's very active LGBT user base.
It's involvement political movements like "anonymous", targeting groups like the Westboro baptist church, hacking the website of Uganda's anti-gay prime minister, occupy wall street, etc.
Grown or concentrated? I can assure you they've always been on Facebook and Twitter, if you didn't see them you were probably bubbled by the algorithm. After the 2016 election a lot of the more mainstream sites decided they didn't want to host them anymore, it's kinda a no-brainer that they'd go to places like 4chan that won't kick them off
I’m well aware of the limitations with the left-right political abstraction.
Every individual issue has varying levels of support among traditional political groupings, but I think it’s fair to say that issue of advancing the interests of LGBT people, is overwhelmingly an issue associated with a left wing political disposition.
> but I think it’s fair to say that issue of advancing the interests of LGBT people, is overwhelmingly an issue associated with a left wing political disposition.
Some truth in that, in Western countries right now, but less so historically or globally. Stalin re-criminalised homosexuality in 1934, and in Russia even today you can find far-left people whose views on LGBT issues are largely indistinguishable from those of the far-right. I’m sure some are going to argue those people “aren’t really left”-but unapologetic Stalinists really are far-left not far-right, and the anti-LGBT stuff is just their following in Stalin’s own footsteps. There are heaps of Western right-wingers who are far more LGBT-friendly than the average Russian Stalinist
Anti-semitism also isn't inherently right wing. That doesn't mean the social phenomenon currently driving anti-semitism isn't right wing.
The 4chan moderators are rarely enforcing the rules against racism, like anti-semitism, on the extreme boards, and sometimes they don't enforce those rules on non-extreme boards too. The anti-semitism on the extreme boards is rampant. It's pretty clear that the far-right is the current social phenomenon that is driving modern racism and anti-semitism, at least in the West.
> That doesn't mean the social phenomenon currently driving anti-semitism isn't right wing.
> It's pretty clear that the far-right is the current social phenomenon that is driving modern racism and anti-semitism, at least in the West.
That really depends on who you ask. There are many Jews who insist that left-wing antisemitism is a big problem-some will even argue it is as big a problem as (or even a bigger problem than) right-wing antisemitism. And it isn’t just right-wing Jews who speak of left-wing antisemitism as a big and growing problem - the ADL, which is very much a respected part of the American Jewish establishment, is saying the same thing - https://www.algemeiner.com/2022/09/06/adl-ceo-left-wing-anti...
However 4chan has always had, and continues to have quite broad demographics, it attracts extremes, by nature of it's low moderation and permissive content policies.
Some examples of left wing associated content could be it's very active LGBT user base.
It's involvement political movements like "anonymous", targeting groups like the Westboro baptist church, hacking the website of Uganda's anti-gay prime minister, occupy wall street, etc.