| Name | Anti-reddit Alliance of Channers |
| Goals | Oppose mainstream internet platforms and culture • Coordinate harassment campaigns, hacking attacks, and disinformation efforts |
| Impact | Wielded significant power and had a major impact on internet culture and politics, acting as a proxy for broader reactionary forces online |
| Origins | |
| Emergence | 2010s |
| Description | An influential and notorious internet subculture that emerged in the 2010s, uniting users from image boards like 4chan and 8chan against mainstream internet platforms and culture. |
The Anti-reddit Alliance of Channers was a loosely-organized collective of internet users who sought to undermine and disrupt the mainstream Reddit platform and broader internet culture. Originating from fringe image boards like 4chan and 8chan, the Alliance coalesced in the early 2010s around a shared disdain for the perceived "normie" sensibilities and content moderation practices of Reddit.
The roots of the Anti-reddit Alliance can be traced back to the early 2000s, when conflict first began brewing between the anarchic, anything-goes culture of 4chan and the more curated, community-driven ethos of Reddit. As Reddit grew in popularity and influence, a contingent of 4chan users came to see it as a threat to their preferred style of internet subversion and trolling.
In the late 2000s, the first stirrings of organized anti-Reddit sentiment emerged on 4chan's /b/ and /pol/ boards, where users would coordinate harassment campaigns, "raids", and other tactics to disrupt Reddit and its users. This loose coalition of 4chan trolls was bolstered by the rise of even more extreme image boards like 8chan in the early 2010s, whose users shared a deep-seated hostility to mainstream internet culture.
Over time, the anti-Reddit sentiment cohered into a more coherent movement with its own distinct ideology, tactics and power structures. The Alliance rebranded itself as a force for "internet democracy" and "freedom of expression", positioning itself against the perceived censorship and "normification" of platforms like Reddit. It drew in a diverse array of participants, from apolitical trolls to more ideologically-motivated reactionaries.
As the Alliance grew, it developed sophisticated strategies for disrupting its perceived enemies. This included large-scale harassment campaigns that leveraged bot networks and coordinated brigading to flood Reddit threads and accounts with abuse. The Alliance also became adept at hacking, doxing, and deploying coordinated disinformation to undermine targets.
At the height of its influence in the late 2010s, the Anti-reddit Alliance of Channers wielded significant power and influence over internet culture and politics. Its campaigns successfully forced the closure of numerous subreddits and disrupted the operations of other platforms. The Alliance also played a role in amplifying far-right and conspiratorial narratives online.
The tactics employed by the Alliance drew widespread condemnation, with critics accusing it of fostering a culture of harassment, extremism, and "internet terrorism". However, the Alliance's defenders argued that it was a necessary counterbalance to the perceived censorship and "leftist bias" of mainstream platforms.
Ultimately, the influence of the Anti-reddit Alliance began to wane in the early 2020s as internet platforms cracked down on coordinated disinformation and harassment campaigns. Nevertheless, the legacy of the Alliance lives on, with its tactics and ideology continuing to manifest in other online subcultures and far-right movements.
