2channel , also known as 2ch, Channel 2, and sometimes retrospectively as 2ch.net, was an anonymous Japanese textboard founded in 1999 by Hiroyuki Nishimura. Described in 2007 as "Japan's most popular online community", the site had a level of influence comparable to that of traditional mass media such as television, radio, and magazines. At the time, the site drew an annual revenue of around ¥100 million, and was the largest of its kind in the world, with around ten million visitors and 2.5 million posts made per day.
Hiroyuki Nishimura, above, founded 2channel in 1999 while a student in Arkansas.
A Nintendo DS browsing a thread on 2channel's automobile board as it appeared in 2008 via the Nintendo DS Browser
Debito Arudou, above, won a ¥1,100,000 libel judgment against 2channel in 2006 after Nishimura refused to delete posts calling Arudou a white supremacist.
Hiroyuki Nishimura is a Japanese internet entrepreneur best known for being the founder of the most accessed Japanese message board, 2channel, and current administrator of 4chan. He is also a self-help author and TV personality. He is often known by his given name, hiroyuki (ひろゆき), which he uses, rendered intentionally in lowercase, both as a pen name and as a username.
Nishimura in 2005
Nishimura in 2011
