Kiwi Farms flees to Russia after Cloudflare takes website offline

Kiwi Farms, an internet cesspit that has spawned countless hate campaigns over the past decade, has finally taken concrete action against them after internet security provider Cloudflare essentially took the site offline.

Last month Trans-political commentator and streamer Clara “Keffals” Sorrenti has been forced to flee her home after being threatened by users of the sitewhich led to the creation of the hashtag #DropKiwi Farmswhich was an attempt to target Cloudflare – the security provider for the forum – and convince them to stop supporting the site.

While Cloudflare were initially reluctant to budge on the matter, last week they relented and blocked Kiwi FWeapons, while he goes to great lengths to explain this in a blog post that the move was due to “specific, targeted threats” and not the immense PR backlash surrounding the company’s continued support of a forum that existed solely to broadcast the darkest impulses of the internet’s worst people:

Nor are we taking this action directly because of the print campaign. While we have empathy for the organizers, as a security provider we are committed to protecting our customers, even when it goes against public opinion or even our own morals.

It’s a welcome step, but that’s bullshit too! Matthew Prince from Cloudflare it says in his blog post that “this is an extraordinary decision for us and given Cloudflare’s role as an internet infrastructure provider, a dangerous decision that we are not comfortable with.” There is no such thing as an apolitical system provider. I can’t believe he needs to be told that. It’s incredible that Cloudflare somehow managed to do the right thing in the worst possible way.

As security has been broken, the site is essentially inaccessible at the time of publication, and anyone attempting to visit Kiwi FWeapons are received with the following message:

After Cloudflare’s move, a number of other developments have taken place around the future of the site. hCaptcha, provider of the forum’s captcha security, also banned Kiwi FArms and says the site’s hateful and violent content violates their terms:

Meanwhile, Frank Figliuzzi, National Security Analyst for NBC and former Deputy Director of the FBI, reports from Kiwi FWeapons has since migrated to Russian servers, and says users “could easily become an increased domestic terror threat”:

In response to Cloudflare’s late move, the #DropKiwifarms team made a statement what is:

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 CEO Matthew Prince noted, threats to life on the site have increased over the past 48 hours, and much faster than law enforcement can keep up. Kiwi Farms has been around for over a decade, and at no point in the site’s history have they come under so much fire. This is a historic moment as thousands of people stood up and spoke out against online harassment and hate.

We are pleased with the decision that Cloudflare has come to, and it comes at a blow to Kiwi Farms and its community that 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 fellowship. We showed that together we can move mountains and if we keep standing together and fighting back, we can see it through to the end.

As long as sites like Kiwi Farms remain active, we will keep fighting. Fiberhub, a Las Vegas-based company, is home to the servers that host and maintain kiwifruit farms. If Kiwi Farms ever gets active again, we need to put the same pressure on FiberHub as we did on Cloudflare or the site will come back online and be up and running any time soon.

We should celebrate all our hard work. We did what nobody else could. However, this is not the end. If we want to see the end of kiwi farms and communities like theirs, we must keep fighting.

— Drop Kiwi Farms Campaign