Japanese court plans to seize control of 2channel

January 13, 2007

2channel, the largest Internet forum in the world and an ISP in Japan, has been shuttered by a Japanese court ruling in a civil slander case. The corporation managing 2channel was declared bankrupt and its assets will be seized. The ISP will close on January 15th, and the future of the famous "mega-BBS" is uncertain.

2channel's operator, Hiroyuki Nishimura, was sued in 2006 by an unnamed 35-year-old office worker who had been made fun of and insulted on one of 2channel's forums. Nishimura moved his operations outside of Japan but did not contest the judge, who awarded the anonymous office worker 5 million yen, to be taken from 2channel's meager holdings within the country, such as its ISP "2channel Provider."

Nishimura issued no official response, but the splash page of 2ch, traditionally featuring a Japanese vase, was given an sarcastic "notice" telling readers that the vase was being repossessed by the Akabane District Court.

2channel was founded in 1999 and currently receives over 2.7 million posts per day from millions of users, mostly in Japan. 2channel is hosted in California but the domain name is registered in Japan.