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Why Is 4chan Raiding U.K. Police With Fake Crime Reports And Memes? The Trolling Campaign Surrounding The Anti-Immigration Riots Explained
For the past several days, users on 4chan have been messaging United Kingdom police with fake reports of crimes and emergencies.
While the raid has a specific goal in mind – it's related to the recent riots in the country – 4chan's users have taken the opportunity to troll the British law forces in their usual ways, and screenshots of their chats with the bobbies have been all other social media in recent days.
So, why is 4chan trolling U.K. police, how are they doing it, and what have the police done in response? Learn this and more in our brief explainer on the latest 4chan raid.
What Is 4chan's Raid On U.K. Police?
4chan has been infamous for its many raids and trolling campaigns over the past two decades, and this recent raid is just another example of how the usually disorganized user base of the imageboard can come together under a common cause.
This time, 4chan users have been using online chats, which are available for many United Kingdom police departments to spam them with fake reports of crimes and emergencies.
The raid started on August 6th, 2024, after an anonymous 4chan user made a thread on the /pol/ board of the site in which they urged American users to spam the official British government channels.
The initial suggestion then developed into U.S. users and other users outside of the U.K. contacting the British police via their official chats, pretending to be victims of crime or witnessing crime done to others.
4chan being 4chan, many messages made fun of the British accent and referenced popular memes about the country such as Loicense.
One person even pretended to be King Charles III being held hostage in Buckingham Palace by Jewish extremists.
Why Is 4chan Trolling U.K. Police?
The original reason for 4chan initiating the raid on U.K. police lies in the recent anti-immigration riots that unfolded across the country in late July and early August 2024 following a fatal stabbing in which three children died.
During the riots, British police forces made arrests of the protestors, which didn't sit well with the general /pol/ audience, apparently. Some users on 4chan then decided to draw away their forces from the protests by distracting the police with fake reports.
How Did The Police React To The Raid?
On day three of the raid, multiple United Kingdom police websites restricted access from IPs from outside the country, which can seemingly still be circumvented using a VPN or similar tools.
Meanwhile, some 4chan users have been posting fake messages from the British police warning that the long arm of the British law will catch every single troll sooner or later, no matter where they are.
For the full history of 4chan Trolling UK Police, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.