Epik

This article is about a web services provider. For other companies with similar names, see Epic (disambiguation) § Brands and enterprises. For other uses, see Epik (disambiguation).
Epik, LLC.
Company typePrivate
IndustryWeb services
Founded2009; 15 years ago (2009)
FounderRob Monster
Headquarters
Sheridan, Wyoming
,
U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
ServicesDomain name registration, web hosting
Number of employees
80 (2021)
ParentRegistered Agents Inc.
SubsidiariesEpik Holdings, Inc.
Websitewww.epik.com Edit this at Wikidata

Epik is an American domain registrar and web hosting company known for providing services to alt-tech websites that host far-right, neo-Nazi, and other extremist materials.[1] It has been described as a "safehaven for the extreme right" because of its willingness to provide services to far-right websites that have been denied service by other Internet service providers.[2][8]

Some of Epik's notable clients have included social network Gab and the imageboard website 8chan.[9] In 2021, the Parler social network moved its domain registration to Epik when it was denied hosting and other web services after it was used to help plan the 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol.[10] Epik has also provided hosting and registrar services to Patriots.win, formerly TheDonald.win, an independent far-right forum that has served as the successor for the r/The_Donald subreddit that was banned in June 2020.[11][12][13]

Epik was founded in 2009 by Rob Monster, and is based in Washington State.[3] In September and October 2021, hackers identifying themselves as a part of Anonymous released several caches of data obtained from Epik in a large-scale data breach.[14][15][16] In 2023, Epik was acquired by Registered Agents Inc., a company owned by Dan Keen.[17][18]

  1. ^ "'The Panama Papers of Hate Groups' Sounds Like a Story". Esquire. 2021-09-27. Archived from the original on 2022-10-02. Retrieved 2022-10-02.
  2. ^ a b Makuch, Ben (May 8, 2019). "The Far Right Has Found a Web Host Savior". Vice. Archived from the original on August 22, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
  3. ^ a b Baker, Mike (November 4, 2018). "Seattle-area company helps fringe site Gab return in wake of Pittsburgh synagogue shooting". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on May 5, 2019. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  4. ^ Schulberg, Jessica (December 12, 2018). "The Bible-Thumping Tech CEO Who's Proud Of Keeping Neo-Nazis Online". HuffPost. Archived from the original on December 24, 2018. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  5. ^ Martineau, Paris (November 6, 2018). "How Right-Wing Social Media Site Gab Got Back Online". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived from the original on May 2, 2019. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference BuysVancouver was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hayden was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ [3][4][5][2][6][7]
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference clients-list was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Venkataramakrishnan, Siddharth (August 11, 2020). "Far-right finds new online home in TheDonald.win". Financial Times. Archived from the original on February 23, 2021. Retrieved August 11, 2020.(Subscription required.)
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference :122 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference :22 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Marks, Joseph (September 17, 2021). "The battle for election security funding is back". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on March 29, 2022. Retrieved September 17, 2021.
  16. ^ Harwell, Drew; Timberg, Craig; Allam, Hannah (September 21, 2021). "Huge hack reveals embarrassing details of who's behind Proud Boys and other far-right websites". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on September 23, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference :9 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ Turton, William; Mehrotra, Dhruv (March 5, 2024). "Inside the Shadowy Firm Pushing the Limits of Business Privacy". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived from the original on 2024-03-09. Retrieved 2024-03-10.