iFunny is a humor-based website and
mobile application developed by
Cyprus-based FunCorp,
an entertainment technology company,
that consists of
meme
A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural i ...
s in the form of images, videos, and animated
GIF
The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF; or , see pronunciation) is a bitmap image format that was developed by a team at the online services provider CompuServe led by American computer scientist Steve Wilhite and released on 15 June 1987. ...
s submitted by its users. The mobile version of the site once featured a built-in meme creator tool. The app describes itself as a "community for meme lovers and viral memes around the internet."
History
The application first launched on April 26, 2011, for
iOS devices, and on November 25, 2011, on
Android
Android may refer to:
Science and technology
* Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human
* Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system
** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...
.
On April 11, 2013, iFunny.co went up as the desktop alternative to the application. In the ''US Mobile App Report'', iFunny was listed as one of the most downloaded apps in the US.
Content
iFunny is available online and as an
app
App, Apps or APP may refer to:
Computing
* Application software
* Mobile app, software designed to run on smartphones and other mobile devices
* Web application or web app, software designed to run inside a web browser
* Adjusted Peak Performan ...
.
It is divided into sections curated by moderators, and a section to follow subscribed accounts.
It is run by David Chef, known as Cheffy by the iFunny community.
Along the left side of the homepage is the "memes catalog", in which general topics are listed including cars, gaming, and sports.
The memes are mostly still images created with images from users.
The site has guidelines that ban threats and hateful propaganda, but they do allow "dark humor".
It claims to use "manual pre-moderation" to filter content that violates its guidelines.
iFunny's policies allow political satire and opinion, but prohibit support for a specific candidate. The site offers a safety lock to prevent others from seeing what memes users have looked at.
Extremist incidents
Some users and content on the website have been associated with
far-right extremist ideologies.
According to VICE News in November 2019, the neo-Nazi hate group "
The Base" was posting recruitment propaganda on iFunny. One user "MemeMercenary" posted QR codes to encourage users to contact the extremist group.
On January 12, 2018, 20-year-old Samuel Woodward was arrested and charged with
first-degree murder for the
stabbing of Blaze Bernstein. Woodward is a member of the
neo-Nazi
Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...
terrorist group
Atomwaffen Division. Woodward had a large following on iFunny under the moniker "Saboteur", and often posted content that was racist, violent, or related to
white supremacy. iFunny users subsequently turned Bernstein’s death into a meme and showed support for Woodward.
On August 7, 2019, 18-year-old Justin Olsen from
Boardman, Ohio, was arrested for making posts on iFunny under his username ArmyOfChrist that supported mass shootings of
Planned Parenthood
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...
. The
FBI found over 10,000 rounds of ammunition and 25 guns at his home. He told authorities that the posts he made were in a joking manner.
On August 16, 2019, the FBI arrested 19-year-old Farhan Sheikh for iFunny posts threatening to murder people at a women's health clinic that was less than 5 miles away from his home. On a post, he wrote that he would "proceed to slaughter and murder any doctor, patient or visitor." He made it clear on his account that the posts were not satirical by writing that it's "NOT a satirical account. I post what I mean, and i WILL carry out what I post ".
On May 28, 2020, 19-year-old Alexander Treisman was initially arrested for carrying concealed weapons and was separately indicted for possession of child pornography, but was later discovered to have made posts on
Reddit and iFunny threatening to assassinate
Joe Biden and
Kamala Harris. In one iFunny post, he said, "Should I kill Joe Biden?". He was found in a van with four rifles, a 9mm handgun, explosive materials, and books on bomb making. Police subsequently found 6,721 images and 1,248 videos of child pornography on eight different digital devices.
On March 12, 2021, 21-year-old Joshua Doctor from
Holland, Michigan, was arrested and charged with terrorism for making death threats towards Joe Biden,
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia Pelosi (; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who has served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019 and previously from 2007 to 2011. She has represented in the United States House of ...
, and
Gretchen Whitmer on iFunny. In the posts, he wrote that he would "be the catalyst" for a revolution. Bomb-making instructions were found on his smartphone as well.
References
{{reflist
External links
Official website
2011 establishments in Russia
Websites with far-right material
Internet properties established in 2011
Neo-Nazism in the United States
Alt-right Internet forums
Alt-tech
Comedy websites