I don't even know if it counts as "broke away from fascism," since the 4chan of that era really was "progressive liberalism but we get to say slurs." I don't want to defend that position too much, since is and was dog shit, but I don't think it was fascist or proto-fascist or whatever. There was a concerted effort by fascists to take over the space, followed shortly by gamergate, before it became what it is now.
I feel like there's a significant portion of the online left that had experiences with 4chan but broke away from fascism, I know I did
I don't even know if it counts as "broke away from fascism," since the 4chan of that era really was "progressive liberalism but we get to say slurs." I don't want to defend that position too much, since is and was dog shit, but I don't think it was fascist or proto-fascist or whatever. There was a concerted effort by fascists to take over the space, followed shortly by gamergate, before it became what it is now.
It was basically the foundation of the dirtbag left as we know it today :mattjak: