Developer(s) | iFunny Inc., FunCorp, Okrujnost |
---|---|
Initial release | April 26, 2011 |
Available in | English, Portuguese |
Type | Humor |
Website | ifunny |
iFunny is a humor-based website and mobile application developed by Cyprus-based FunCorp, [1] [2] [3] an entertainment technology company, [4] that consists of memes in the form of images, videos, and animated GIFs submitted by its users. The mobile version of the site once featured a built-in meme creator tool. The app describes itself as a "community for meme lovers and viral memes around the internet." [5]
The application first launched on April 26, 2011 for iOS devices, and on November 25, 2011 for Android. [5] On April 11, 2013, iFunny.co went up as the desktop alternative to the application. In the US Mobile App Report, iFunny was listed as one of the most downloaded apps in the US [4] and as of 2023 has been downloaded over 70 million times in the United States. [6]
iFunny is available online and as an app. [7] It is divided into sections curated by moderators, and includes a section to follow subscribed accounts. [7] It is run by David Chef, known as Cheffy by the iFunny community. [7]
Along the left side of the homepage is the "memes catalog", in which general topics are listed including cars, gaming, and sports. [8]
The site has guidelines that ban threats and hateful propaganda, but they do allow "dark humor". [8] It claims to use "manual pre-moderation" to filter content that violates its guidelines. [8] iFunny's policies allow political satire and opinion, but prohibit support for specific parties or candidates. [9] The site offers a safety lock to prevent others from seeing what memes users have looked at. [4]
Some users and content on the website have been associated with extremist ideologies. [7] [10] [11] [12]
According to Vice News in November 2019, the neo-Nazi hate group The Base was posting recruitment propaganda on iFunny. One user, using the alias "MemeMercenary", posted QR codes to encourage users to contact the extremist group. [10]
On January 12, 2018, 20-year-old Samuel Woodward was arrested and charged with first-degree murder for the stabbing of Blaze Bernstein. Woodward is a member of the neo-Nazi terrorist group Atomwaffen Division. [13] Woodward had a large following on iFunny under the moniker "Saboteur", and often posted content that was racist, violent, or related to white supremacy. [14] He had drifted away from iFunny in the last year and deleted the "Saboteur" account. iFunny users turned Bernstein's death into a meme and showed support for Woodward. [15] [16]
On August 7, 2019, 18-year-old Justin Olsen from Boardman Township, Ohio, was arrested for making posts on iFunny under his username ArmyOfChrist that supported mass shootings. The FBI found over 10,000 rounds of ammunition and 25 guns at his home. He told authorities that the posts he made were in a joking manner. [7]
On August 16, 2019, the FBI arrested 19-year-old Farhan Sheikh for iFunny posts threatening to murder people at a women's health clinic that was less than 5 miles away from his home. On a post, he wrote that he would "proceed to slaughter and murder any doctor, patient or visitor." He posted that his iFunny account was "NOT a satirical account. I post what I mean, and i WILL carry out what I post [ sic ]". [5]
On May 28, 2020, 19-year-old Alexander Treisman was initially arrested for carrying concealed weapons and was separately indicted for possession of child pornography, but was later discovered to have made posts on Reddit and iFunny threatening to assassinate Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. In one iFunny post, he said, "Should I kill Joe Biden?". He was found in a van with four rifles, a 9mm handgun, explosive materials, and books on bomb making. Police subsequently found 6,721 images and 1,248 videos of child pornography on eight different digital devices. [17]
On March 12, 2021, 21-year-old Joshua Doctor from Holland, Michigan, was arrested and charged with terrorism for making death threats towards Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and Gretchen Whitmer on iFunny. In the posts, he wrote that he would "be the catalyst" for a revolution. Bomb-making instructions were found on his smartphone, according to prosecutors. [18] According to Chief Information Officer Denis Litvinov, the post violated the platform's policies and guidelines against violence. [18]
4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from video games and television to literature, cooking, weapons, music, history, anime, fitness, politics, and sports, among others. Registration is not available and users typically post anonymously. As of 2022, 4chan receives more than 22 million unique monthly visitors, of which approximately half are from the United States.
Parler was an American alt-tech social networking service associated with conservatives. Launched in August 2018, Parler marketed itself as a free speech-focused and unbiased alternative to mainstream social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. Journalists described Parler as an alt-tech alternative to Twitter, with its users including those banned from mainstream social networks or who oppose their moderation policies.
Nextdoor Holdings, Inc. is an American company that operates a hyperlocal social networking service for neighborhoods. The company was founded in 2008 and is based in San Francisco, California. Nextdoor launched in the United States in October 2011, and is available in 11 countries as of May 2023. Users of Nextdoor are required to submit their real names and addresses to the website. However, they do not verify the accuracy of submitted names and addresses.
UGNazi is a hacker group. The group conducted a series of cyberattacks, including social engineering, data breach, and denial-of-service attacks, on the websites of various organizations in 2012. Two members of UGNazi were arrested in June 2012; one was incarcerated. In December 2018, two members of UGNazi were arrested in connection with a murder in Manila.
Some communities on the social news site Reddit are devoted to explicit, violent, or hateful material, and have been the topic of controversy. Controversial Reddit communities sometimes receive significant media coverage.
Brainly is an education company based in Kraków, Poland, with headquarters in New York City. It is an AI-powered homework help platform targeting students and parents. As of November 2020, Brainly reported having 15 million daily active users, making it the world's most popular education app. In 2024, FlexOS reported Brainly as the #1 Generative AI Tool in the education category and the #6 Generative AI Tool overall. Also in 2024, Andreessen Horowitz reported Brainly as #6 in the Top 50 Gen AI Mobile Apps by monthly active users.
Yik Yak is a pseudonymous social media smartphone application that initially launched in 2013 and relaunched in 2021. The app, which is available for iOS and (formerly) Android, allows college students to create and view discussion threads within a 5-mile (8.0 km) radius. It is similar to other anonymous sharing apps such as Nearby, but differs from others such as Whisper in that it is intended for sharing primarily with those in proximity to the user.
Venmo is an American mobile payment service founded in 2009 and owned by PayPal since 2013. Venmo is aimed at users who wish to split their bills. Account holders can transfer funds to others via a mobile phone app; both the sender and receiver must live in the United States. Venmo also operates as a small social network, as users can observe other users’ public transactions with posts and emoticons. In 2021, the company handled $230 billion in transactions and generated $850 million in revenue. Users can view transactions on the Venmo website but users cannot complete transactions on the website and you will need to complete transactions on a mobile phone using iOS or Android.
Pepe the Frog is a webcomic character and Internet meme created by cartoonist Matt Furie. Designed as a green anthropomorphic frog with a humanoid body, Pepe originated in Furie's 2005 comic Boy's Club. The character became an Internet meme when his popularity steadily grew across websites such as Myspace, Gaia Online, and 4chan in 2008. By 2015, he had become one of the most popular memes used on 4chan and Tumblr. Different types of Pepe memes include "Sad Frog", "Smug Frog", "Angry Pepe", "Feels Frog", and "You will never..." Frog. Since 2014, "rare Pepes" have been posted on the "meme market" as if they were trading cards.
r/The_Donald was a subreddit where participants created discussions and Internet memes in support of U.S. president Donald Trump. Initially created in June 2015 following the announcement of Trump's presidential campaign, the community grew to over 790,000 subscribers who described themselves as "Patriots". The community was banned in June 2020 for violating Reddit rules on harassment and targeting. It was ranked as one of the most active communities on Reddit.
Gab is an American alt-tech microblogging and social networking service known for its far-right userbase. Widely described as a haven for neo-Nazis, racists, white supremacists, white nationalists, antisemites, the alt-right, supporters of Donald Trump, conservatives, right-libertarians, and believers in conspiracy theories such as QAnon, Gab has attracted users and groups who have been banned from other social media platforms and users seeking alternatives to mainstream social media platforms. Founded in 2016 and launched publicly in May 2017, Gab claims to promote free speech, individual liberty, the "free flow of information online", and Christian values. Researchers and journalists have characterized these assertions as an obfuscation of its extremist ecosystem. Antisemitism is prominent in the site's content and the company itself has engaged in antisemitic commentary. Gab CEO Andrew Torba has promoted the white genocide conspiracy theory. Gab is based in Pennsylvania.
Trash Doves is an Internet meme which originated from a sticker set designed in 2016, which feature a large-eyed purple pigeon in various situations. The most notable sticker of the set is an animated GIF of the bird vigorously thrashing its head up and down. Shortly after its debut on Facebook in January 2017, the purple dove sticker set quickly became a viral subject of edited parodies and image macros on social media.
Anthime Joseph "Tim" Gionet, more commonly known as Baked Alaska, is an American far-right media personality who gained notoriety through his advocacy on behalf of alt-right and white supremacist ideology. He has also used the alias Tim Treadstone.
/b/, also called random, is an anonymous imageboard on 4chan. It was the first board created during the establishment of the platform in 2003, and it then stood for "anime/random". While /b/ permits discussion and posting of any sort of content, the community etiquette is to self-limit discussion on /b/ of those topics which are specialties or the focus of other boards on 4chan. /b/ is one of the most popular imageboards on 4chan, next to /pol/. Due to its popularity and notoriety, it overshadows the website with a bad reputation. The Washington Post described /b/ as "an unfathomable grab-bag of the random, the gross and the downright bizarre".
Neighbors by Ring, also known as simply Neighbors, is a hyperlocal social networking app owned by Ring LLC, a subsidiary of Amazon.com Inc.
Ryan Broderick is an American journalist. He worked for BuzzFeed from 2012 to 2020, where he was a senior journalist at the tech news desk until he was fired for plagiarism. He has also reported for Vice and Gawker. Broderick has run the newsletter Garbage Day since 2019.
Jeff Giesea is an American entrepreneur, communications specialist, and national security writer who is a business affiliate of several of Peter Thiel's companies and venture capital groups.
On October 8, 2020, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced the arrests of 13 men suspected of orchestrating a domestic terror plot to kidnap American politician Gretchen Whitmer, the Governor of Michigan, and otherwise using violence to overthrow the state government. Some have labeled the attempt as an example of stochastic terrorism, where violent rhetoric by prominent figures inspired the plot.
Corona-chan is a moe anthropomorphization of the coronavirus which became a popular meme on 4chan, Reddit and other websites during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.