4chan founder reappears at Google
A year after he signed off from 4chan, Chris Poole has joined Google in its social division.
By Chris Duckett | March 8, 2016 -- 00:34 GMT (16:34 PST) | Topic: Social Enterprise
Chris Poole, founder of 4chan and vanguard of anonymous online speech, has joined the world's largest ad-driven company a year after he handed over ownership of 4chan, and months after winding up his Canvas startup.
The news was announced on Twitter by Bradley Horowitz, Google vice president of Streams, Photos, and Sharing, whose responsibilities include Google+.
"When meeting with current and former Googlers, I continually find myself drawn to their intelligence, passion, and enthusiasm -- as well as a universal desire to share it with others," Poole wrote in a blog post.
"I can't wait to contribute my own experience from a dozen years of building online communities."
At South by Southwest in 2011, Poole said he disagreed with Facebook's approach to online identity.
"Mark Zuckerberg has kind of equated anonymity with a lack of authenticity, almost a cowardice," said Poole.
"I would say that's totally wrong. I think anonymity is authenticity. It allows you to share in a completely unvarnished, unfiltered, raw way. I think that's something that's extremely valuable. In the case of content creation, it just allows you to play in ways that you may not have otherwise. We believe in content over creator."
Poole topped the Time "100 Most Influential" poll in 2009 after 4channers spammed the online poll. The result did not stand.
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