Famed Japanese Toy Company Good Smile Has Reportedly Propped Up 4chan for Years

Source: Gizmodo

Good Smile, one of the world’s most popular toy companies, reportedly acted as the brace for one of the internet’s worst cesspools, financially backing 4chan. The site has gone on to facilitate harassment campaigns, racism, misogyny, and homophobia while being a vortex for internet conspiracy theories.

Wired reported on Wednesday that, based on partnership agreement documents, Japanese toy company Good Smile has financially backed 4chan for nearly eight years. The merch provider is known for its Nendoroid series and other scale figurines and action figures based on multiple major IPs, especially anime, but also Warner Bros. and Walt Disney properties. The documents reportedly show Good Smile put up $2.4 million to keep the site going when it was changing hands back in 2015.

Good Smile has been connected to 4chan in past reports. Last year, based on nondisclosure documents, Wired reported that Good Smile had played a part in the site’s 2015 acquisition. Former VPs for Good Smile in the U.S. have accused the company in legal documents of trafficking in “sexually explicit” figures of underage girls, committing tax evasion, defrauding the U.S., and being involved with 4chan. According to The Hollywood Reporter, top brass at the subsidiary went to Good Smile’s offices in the U.S. back in 2019 and were told by Enna Hozumi, the VP at Good Smile US, that Good Smile Japan had “acquired” 4chan and that it was being “managed” at the company’s Tokyo, Japan headquarters. A company rep told the Reporter that Good Smile made a “passive investment” into 4chan.

The fine folks at the anonymous imageboard site 4chan have been involved in numerous harassment campaigns, such as recent attacks targeting LGBT suicide hotline workers. It’s been labeled as the seedbed for the QAnon conspiracy movement and for the incel community. The online board was cited specifically by the perpetrator of the deadly 2018 Toronto van attack who specifically targeted women. It’s otherwise continued to be a haven for far-right radicals and trolls of all shapes and sizes.

Read more: https://gizmodo.com/japanese-toy-company-good-smile-support-4chan-for-years-1850279267

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There are only two reasons to back something like 4chan: For the money, which can’t be the case since 4chan is not a money machine, or to promote fascist ideology at all costs.