Kiwi Farms flees to Russia after Cloudflare takes site down

Kiwi Farms, the internet cesspool that has spawned countless hate campaigns over the past decade, has finally taken concrete action against it after internet security provider Cloudflare effectively took the site down.

Last month Transpolitical commentator and streamer Clara “Keffals” Sorrenti was forced to leave her home after being threatened by users of the site.what led to the creation of the hashtag #DropKiwifarmswhich was an attempt to attack Cloudflare – the forum’s security provider – and convince them to stop maintaining the site.

While Cloudflare was initially reluctant to budge on this issue, last week they relented and blocked Kiwi F.arms, going to great lengths to explain in the blog that the move was due to “specific, targeted threats” rather than the huge public backlash associated with the company’s continued support of a forum that existed solely to seep into the darkest impulses of the worst people on the internet:

We are also not taking this action directly because of the pressure campaign. Although we sympathize with its organizers, we, as a security service provider, are committed to protecting our customers, even if they go against public opinion or even our own morals.

This is a long-awaited step, but this is some kind of nonsense! Matthew Prince of Cloudflare also says on his blog that “this is an extraordinary decision for us, and given Cloudflare’s role as an internet infrastructure provider, a dangerous decision that we don’t like.” There is no such thing as an apolitical system provider. I can’t believe he has to talk about this. It’s unbelievable that Cloudflare has somehow managed to do what needs to be done in the worst possible way.

Since its security has been revoked, the site is basically unavailable at the time of publication and anyone trying to visit Kiwi FArms will be greeted with the following message:

Since Cloudflare’s move, there have been a number of other developments related to the site’s future. hCaptcha, the forum’s security provider, has also suspended Kiwi F.arms, stating that the site’s hateful and violent content violates their terms:

Meanwhile, Frank Figliuzzi, NBC’s national security analyst and former assistant director of the FBI, tells Kiwi F.The weapon has since migrated to Russian servers and says users “could easily become an increased threat of domestic terror”:

In response to Cloudflare’s belated move, the #DropKiwifarms team made a statement which reads:

THE BATTLE IS WON, BUT THE WAR IS NOT OVER.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2022

Today, Cloudflare shut down the infamous far-right hate forum Kiwi Farms. As noted by CEO Matthew Prince, threats to human life have increased on the website in the last 48 hours, and this is happening much faster than law enforcement can keep up. Kiwi Farms has been around for over a decade and never in the site’s history have they been so heavily criticized. This is a historic moment when thousands of people spoke out against online harassment and hate.

We are pleased with the decision that Cloudflare has come to, and this is a big blow to Kiwi Farms and their community from which they may never recover. But that doesn’t mean we should rest on our laurels. While we should be celebrating today, this may not be the end of their community. We have shown that, united together, we can move mountains, and if we continue to stand together and fight back, we can see it to the end.

As long as sites like Kiwi Farms remain active, we will fight. Fiberhub, based in Las Vegas, hosts and maintains the servers that host Kiwi Farms. If Kiwi Farms ever becomes active again, we will need to put the same pressure on FiberHub as we have on Cloudflare or the website will go back online and up and running for the foreseeable future.

We should celebrate all our hard work. We did what no one else could. However, this is not the end. If we want to see the end of kiwi farms and communities like them, we must keep fighting.

— Campaign “Give up kiwi farms”