ICYMI: June 2026
Ebola conspiracy theories, Telegram cybercrime, anti-LGBTQ+ content on Truth Social, and a big update on 4chan's 'Adult Requests' imageboard
Hello again from the Open Measures team. You may have noticed that our newsletter has a new look. We're planning to use it more regularly going forward — sharing research articles, media appearances, platform updates, and links to others’ work we think is worth your time. Be sure to subscribe if you haven't already.
As we enter the dog days of summer, here’s a look back at the research we published in June.
But first…
4chan Quietly Pulled ‘Adult Requests’ Last Month. There’s Still No Sign It’s Coming Back.
By Jared Holt
4chan’s “Adult Requests” imageboard was one of the internet’s largest and fastest-growing venues for the nonconsensual trading and solicitation of sexually explicit images generated with AI tools — commonly known as “deepfakes.”
Then, on May 21, 4chan abruptly shut Adult Requests down. At the time of writing, the imageboard has been removed from the site’s index, and its URL returns an error page reading: “File not found.”
We’ve seen Adult Requests go dark before, only to return within days. But this time feels different: more than a month has now passed with no apparent sign it’s coming back.
The closure appears to have largely gone unnoticed by users on 4chan’s other boards, though a handful have voiced confusion over its disappearance and the absence of any explanation.
Earlier this year, Open Measures published an investigation into Adult Requests that exposed the scale and intensity of abuse occurring on the board. It sparked a broader wave of scrutiny — among researchers, policy analysts, and journalists — into its role in the wider ecosystem of nonconsensual intimate imagery (NCII) online.
We're glad our report helped drive a broader reckoning with this corner of the internet, and we'll keep watching for where its former inhabitants migrate next.
Conspiracy Theorists Rehash ‘Big Pharma’ Attacks Amid Ebola Outbreak
Open Measures found that alternative platform users promoted conspiracy theories attacking a host of pharmaceutical companies that develop vaccines last month after reports that global health authorities were responding to a deadly Ebola virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Cybercriminals Are Evading Telegram Crackdowns in 'Patriot Party' and Crypto-themed Channels
Telegram, a popular privacy-oriented messaging and social media app, promised to overhaul its approach to platform moderation after French authorities brought criminal charges against its founder in 2024. Our researchers investigated how the company's policy changes and increased moderation efforts have impacted cybercrime on its platform.
Libs of TikTok: The New Queen of Truth Social
Libs of TikTok, a high-profile social media account known for promoting anti-LGBTQ+ conspiracy theories, dramatically ramped up its activity on Truth Social in December 2025 after years of sporadic use. Almost immediately, it became one of the most-reshared accounts among Truth Social users, who have reacted to its posts with hateful, threatening, and violent rhetoric.
What We’re Reading:
An Influential Time (SPLC)
Fake Dating Profiles, Real Foreign Influence (NewsGuard)
Big Trouble on Small Forums: Largely Unknown Small Sites Driving Extremist Violence (GPAHE)
Dear Media is the vaccine skeptical trojan horse targeting millennial women (Number Two Pencil)
It Is Trivially Easy to Use Reddit to Manipulate AI Search, Research Suggests (404 Media)
Before you go…
Check out recent articles in The Atlantic and Hate Comes to Main Street featuring insights from Open Measures researchers.
Revisit our flash report about the right-wing media “antifa” narratives that set the stage for DOJ prosecutors to charge 15 anti-ICE protesters in Minnesota.
But perhaps most importantly…