Ĥchan was created as an unofficial English-language counterpart to the Japanese imageboard Futaba Channel, also known as 2chan, and its first boards were originally used for posting images and discussion related to anime.
As of 2022, 4chan receives more than 22 million unique monthly visitors, of which approximately half are from the United States. Registration is not available and users typically post anonymously. 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. 4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website.