Brennan had launched 8chan just a few months before the start of Gamergate, the right-wing backlash and harassment campaign aimed at women working in video games. After being banned from 4chan, as QAnon would be years later, Gamergate found a home on 8chan. To its advocates, Gamergate was about protecting a gaming industry they saw as overrun by liberal activists. In practice, Gamergate “activism” often amounted to organizing online harassment mobs that targeted female video game journalists and developers.
