A week ago, THQ Nordic’s PR and marketing manager Philipp Brock apologized for hosting an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on the infamous message board 8chan. Now, the co-founder and CEO of parent company THQ Nordic AB Lars Wingefors is apologizing as well.
Last Tuesday, THQ Nordic GmbH announced (on the official THQ Nordic Twitter) that they would be hosting an AMA on 8chan. Created in 2013, 8chan is a “free-speech-friendly” alternative to 4chan, which is already one of the Internet’s most lawless lands. 8chan takes its free speech stance to the extremes, and there’s allegations of child pornography and other “loli” content on there. It even got blacklisted from Google in 2015 for containing “suspected child abuse content.” It’s no surprise that 8chan is a pretty terrible place to hold an AMA, and backlash was almost instant.
Some people might not realize that there are two THQ Nordics. This tweet thrown together by the official Twitter for the open-world factory building sim Satisfactory should quickly explain things.
Phillipp Brock apologized for the AMA later that day, saying he didn’t “understand the history and controversy” surrounding the site, although some doubt that claim. Late yesterday, the co-founder and CEO of THQ Nordic AB stepped forward to make an official statement on the incident. He stated that he condemns all the unethical content 8chan stands for, and understands that simply hosting an AMA on the site implies some support. He also takes full responsibility for the actions and communications of THQ Nordic GmbH. He adds:
As a Swedish based, fast growing group, we firmly support equality and diversity. We are also working actively to combat discrimination, harassment, and misconduct. We are already in the process of developing new work processes, based on the United Nations’ SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and using the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) standards, and we will accelerate this work going forward.