The site is famous for massive harassment campaigns, the victims of which have in some cases committed suicide.
The website’s users shared addresses and phone numbers of their victims, among other things. Adobe Stock / AOP
Cloudflare, a US provider of cloud services and a content distribution network, has shut down the notorious stalking and harassment site Kiwi Farms. According to the company, the site posed an immediate threat to human life, reports Associated Press.
There has been an online campaign to shut down Kiwi Farms ever since the transgender Twitch streamer Clara Sorrenti began to pay attention to the platform’s problems. Cloudflare previously vowed to keep the site open, but had second thoughts after monitoring threats posted on the site.
– This is an extraordinary decision and considering Cloudflare’s role as an internet infrastructure provider, it is also dangerous and does not seem easy, the company’s CEO Matthew Prince wrote on Saturday.
For years, Kiwi Farms users have started harassment campaigns on the site targeting trans people, feminists and other people the users despise. The site shares the addresses and phone numbers of the targets of harassment and spreads nasty rumors. The activities are often also targeted at the victim’s workplace and family.
A common practice is also to make false emergency calls to the target’s address, with the aim of getting armed police to rush to the victim’s home. Some of the victims of Kiwi Farms’ harassment campaigns have later committed suicide.