On Saturday, Sept. 3, Cloudflare announced that it had blocked Kiwi Farms, an online forum that is known for its trolling and hateful content. 

In a blog post, Cloudflare said Kiwi Farms posed a threat to human life and cited the increase of targeted threats over the past couple of days. 

Cloudflare Blocks Kiwi Farms

Cloudflare decided to block Kiwi Farms after YouTuber and Twitch streamer, Clara Sorrenti, also known as Keffals, had been targeted by a harassment campaign by users from the forum, according to The Verge.

In August, Kiwi Farms users waged a swatting attack against Keffals. An unnamed user tipped the police that someone is planning to carry out a violent crime, resulting in police swarming Keffals' home. 

Keffals was forced to go into hiding for her safety, and people began the #DropKiwifarms campaign that urged Cloudflare to stop serving Kiwi Farms. 

Users across Twitter shared the hashtag, with some revealing the harassment that they've experienced at the forum. 

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Cloudflare initially resisted calls to block Kiwi Farms, saying that it would be an abuse of power and is against the freedom of speech. 

After the harassment suffered by Keffals, Cloudflare outlined its policies on abusive content. The company also laid out an argument for maintaining service without mentioning Kiwi Farms. 

Cloudflare explains that they've concluded in consultation with politicians, policy makers, and experts that turning off security services because of despicable posts is the wrong policy.

Change of Heart 

In the most recent update, Cloudflare cites an unprecedented emergency as the reason behind the sudden takedown of Kiwi Farms. 

The hosting provider did not provide hosting for Kiwi Farms' website, but it provided security services that many saw as instrumental to keeping the website online.

Cloudflare explains that those who will visit Kiwi Farms that use Cloudflare's service will see a block page and a link to a post citing the reasons behind the takedown. 

The hosting provider also said that Kiwi Farm may move their sites to other providers and may come back online, but the company taken steps to block their content from being accessed through the infrastructure. 

Cloudflare has also coordinated with law enforcement to address some of the threats on the site against Keffals, but the process is too slow. 

In the update, the hosting provider claims it did not block the site due to the social media campaign that pleaded with the service to drop Kiwi Farms. Instead, Cloudflare dropped the forum due to the increasing aggressive activity on the platform. 

What is Kiwi Farms

Kiwi Farms was launched in 2013, and was created by 8Chan's former administrator, Joshua Moon. The forum has become known for the harassment and stalking of celebrities and influencers. 

According to The New York magazine, Kiwi Farms is the biggest community of stalkers with harassment so severe that the site has been blamed for the deaths of several victims. 

Kiwi Farms members would compile information on its victims, follow their activities and dox them, according to AS.

They also hack the online accounts of their victims.  

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Written by Sophie Webster