8chan owner vows to put website back online in congressional testimony

8chan owner Jim Watkins said that his site “believes in the exceptional promise of the First Amendment” and vowed to help law enforcement as needed, according to prepared remarks submitted late Wednesday to the House Homeland Security Committee.

Watkins appeared Thursday morning in person before the committee in a closed-door deposition alongside his lawyer, Benjamin Barr.

The fringe message board has been under renewed scrutiny in recent months after hateful screeds were posted on it, some of which have been linked to suspects in the three mass shootings.

Growing public pressure has put 8chan’s future in doubt. After the shooting last month in El, Paso, Texas, the San Francisco-based web infrastructure company Cloudflare barred 8chan from using its services, and the site has remained inaccessible since.

source: nbcnews.com