Technology", which according to Watkins was a meaningless acronym meant to make pornography purchases less conspicuous on credit card statements.

[4] The videos featured on The Goldwater were hosted by American associates of Watkins and by several "attractive Filipina women" who delivered pro-Donald Trump news in heavily accented English.

One video addressed the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, with Watkins commenting that he believed that the child sex ring existed, though not that it was connected with a pizzeria.

[11] The highest point for The Goldwater came when it was accredited to cover Trump's June 2018 summit with Kim Jong-un in Singapore.

[6] Watkins claimed in a September 2022 stream that he purchased doxxing forum Kiwi Farms after it had been removed from several web hosting services, and that he was looking to bring it and 8kun back to the clearnet.

The announcement received mixed reactions from Kiwi Farm's userbase, and site owner Joshua Moon denied it in a Telegram post.

[14] Watkins has claimed he seized the 2channel domain because the loss of revenue from the data breach made Nishimura unable to pay hosting costs.

[16] 8chan, later renamed 8kun, is an imageboard website known for hosting extreme alt-right and racist content, for being a forum for child pornography, for its role in the Gamergate harassment campaign, and for its links to multiple mass shootings.

After 4chan's founder, Christopher "moot" Poole, banned discussion related to Gamergate in September 2014, Brennan began advertising 8chan as a "free speech friendly 4chan alternative".

Technology, began offering domain name services and hardware to host 8chan in 2014 into 2015, and Brennan continued to be responsible for the site's software development and community management.

Wired magazine reported he left the position due to stress; others have attributed his departure to Brennan growing disgusted with the site and its contents, and asking to be reassigned to work elsewhere.

[24][25][26] The site was removed from the clearnet shortly after the August shooting due to suspensions of service from multiple providers, and did not return until November 2019.

Posters on the website can pay, using a cryptocurrency created by Ron Watkins, to have their posts listed prominently through a program called "King of the Shekel".

[31] In March 2020, the court suspended the case pending the outcome of an appeal by Brennan to the Philippines Department of Justice.

[23][32] QAnon is a discredited far-right conspiracy theory alleging that a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles running a global child sex-trafficking ring is plotting against former President Donald Trump, who is battling them.

[31] Also in March 2020, QAnon researcher Mike Rothschild said, "It would be very easy for the Q poster to use another forum or provide a cryptographic key to prove his authenticity on some other site, but instead they wait to post on this rickety version of 8chan.

"[36] ABC News reported that a prominent website for "Q drops", called "QMap.pub", shared the same content delivery network as 8kun.

Brian Friedberg, a senior researcher at Harvard's Shorenstein Center, said: "Regardless of whether he is doing any direct posting, or encouraging what the content is, the Watkins family and the 8kun crew have a remarkable amount of control over what's turning into an international movement".

[1] In an interview on a September 2020 episode of the podcast Reply All, Brennan explained that he believes the Q account was originally operated by someone else, but that Watkins and his son took control of the persona, most likely around December 2017.

[35][36] When Watkins testified before the United States House Committee on Homeland Security in September 2019, he wore a QAnon pin.

[4][35] In February 2020, Watkins formed a super PAC called "Disarm the Deep State", which backs political candidates who support the QAnon conspiracy theory.

[34][39] Benjamin Barr, an attorney who has represented Watkins in the past and who is known for his involvement with the American right-wing activist group Project Veritas, also helped with the super PAC.

"[31] In October 2020, Watkins was a featured speaker at Q Con Live!, a conference for QAnon adherents that was held in Scottsdale, Arizona.

[4][6] In January 2020, the Investigations Division of the Philippines Bureau of Immigration (BI) designated Watkins an "undesirable alien".

[1] Immigration records obtained by ABC News said that Watkins "is the owner and operator of 8chan, a hate filled forum/website which hosts trolling and serves as go-to resource for violent extremists and white supremacists".

According to ABC News, if Watkins did not return to the Philippines by January 31, 2021, to appeal the BI's designation, he would be denied reentry to the country.