Caymans Post

A world within. A state apart.
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

End of an era: LiveLeak self-destructs after 15 years of providing unmitigated gore & all things NSFW

End of an era: LiveLeak self-destructs after 15 years of providing unmitigated gore & all things NSFW

The famously gruesome site, which has hosted the most offensive content online – and refused to budge in response to complaints about it – has finally given up the ghost. A tamer incarnation called ItemFix is replacing it.

Hayden Hewitt, co-founder of LiveLeak and now ItemFix, did not directly confirm in any of his statements that the site was being dropped because of censorship, or that it was bowing and scraping before the deadly monolith of deplatforming, or any of the other grim fates that befall sites like it. Such bullying has plagued most alternative media outlets in the past several years.

However, in one response on Twitter Hewitt mentioned that “the very pressures of doing what were a large part of the reason for moving on. It wasn't exactly a Wordpress blog on $2.99 hosting.”

In a video posted on YouTube channel Trigger Warning, he also described the new normal in no uncertain terms: “I don’t f**king like it. I liked it much better when it was the Wild West.”

"Sometimes it’s just the right time to chart a new path."


Given the site’s boilerplate insistence that their new outlet would be named ItemFix and would be about “something completely different, completely fresh, and something we feel energized about tackling,” users may have a reason to feel threatened. Then again, they have just as many reasons not to.

LiveLeak was always the site one could turn to if one was desperately searching for footage of a car crash, forklift fails, and ill-advised street-fights. ItemFix seems to follow in largely the same vein, except with a clearer delineation of “good guys” and “bad guys.” Hewitt declared LiveLeak had “achieved all that it could and it was time for us to try something new and exciting.”

There has been a long internet tradition of handing over the baton to a younger, fresher site once one’s own platform reaches meme-saturation. The co-founders of LiveLeak predecessor Ogrish recognized that, moving on to create the new site after Ogrish committed the internet equivalent of seppuku.

Responding to a suggestion the people would be leaving LiveLeak’s new incarnation, Hewitt wrote: “Of course they will. As they should if that's what they're after. ItemFix isn't a replacement.”

LiveLeak is far from being the only internet resource that has been publishing gore. A BBC article dated back to June 2007 bemoans the state of Britain where children can fight in the streets, savagely having at each other with fists, legs, and whatever sharp and heavy objects the kids might have at hand. But trying to quell internet violence by cutting off one of the heads of the many-heard hydra has never worked yet, and given the problems continuing to plague small-scale social networks like Parler and Gab, it’s not likely to end anytime soon.

Even 4chan, the once-beloved crew of meme sculptors blamed for swaying political outcomes and a even winning political election result, will not last forever. When parts of its political arm /pol/ was forced out into 8chan and then 8kun, it became clear that 4chan was not about free speech anymore – at least, not if that speech has anything to do with politics.

As with everything in the world, if you want something right, you’d best learn to do it yourself. But with 15 years of driving censors mad, today’s social media platforms might be able to learn something from LiveLeak.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Caymans Post
0:00
0:00
Close
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Israel: Unprecedented Civil Disobedience Looms as IDF Reservists Protest Judiciary Reform
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Italian Court's Controversial Ruling on Sexual Harassment Ignites Uproar
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
BBC Personalities Rebuke Accusations Amidst Scandal Involving Teen Exploitation
A Swift Disappointment: Why Is Taylor Swift Bypassing Canada on Her Global Tour?
Historic Moment: Edgars Rinkevics, EU's First Openly Gay Head of State, Takes Office as Latvia's President
Bye bye democracy, human rights, freedom: French Cops Can Now Secretly Activate Phone Cameras, Microphones And GPS To Spy On Citizens
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
Unilever Plummets in a $2.5 Billion Free Fall, to begin with: A Reckoning for Misuse of Corporate Power Against National Interest
Beyond the Blame Game: The Need for Nuanced Perspectives on America's Complex Reality
Twitter Targets Meta: A Tangle of Trade Secrets and Copycat Culture
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
The New French Revolution
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
×