In an act of digital mutiny, a hacker claiming to be part of the Soyjak.Party community opened the gates to 4chan 4chan's administrative site and displayed a Hatsune Miku dancing across the newly revived /QA/ board.

Now, internet users are roiling with the news that the information about some of 4chan's "jannies" was leaked, as well a rumor that some of the accounts were linked to .edu and .gov emails. So what really went down during the Sharty 4chan Hack? Here's a recap separating truth from fiction.

When Did 4chan Get Hacked and What Did The Hackers Leak?

The first signs of trouble appeared late on April 14th, 2025, when a thread appeared on Soyjak.Party's /soy/ board casually announcing what seemed to be total unauthorized access to 4chan. The hacker(s) dumped a grab bag of digital goodies: janitor emails, the source code for yotsuba.php (4chan's post-handling system), and even cracked open /j/, a secret board just for janitors.

Janitors (or "jannies," as lovingly nicknamed by trolls) are unpaid volunteers who moderate content. The leak revealed at least three .edu emails and left a part of 4chan's source code floating around sketchy corners of the internet, like this post on KiwiFarms. Though rumors circulated that the leak also contained .gov emails linked to the moderator team, this claim remains unsubstantiated.

So How Was 4chan Hacked?

The breach seems to boil down to 4chan running an antique website. According to X user @_yushe, the site was still using deprecated MySQL functions and an ancient version of PHP. Combine that with a vulnerable script (yotsuba.php), and you've basically got "Hack Me" scrawled across the homepage. The attackers basically slipped in through these gaps in 4chan's security and gave themselves admin access.

What Are "Jannies" and What Is the "Sharty" Anyway?

"Jannies" or janitors are basically volunteer mods, and "The Sharty" refers to users of the Soyjak.Party community. 4chan's /QA/ board was taken over by Soyjaks back in 2021, prompting moderators to ban the board altogether. These /QA/ posters then formed Soyjak.party to keep posting soyjaks to their heart's desire.

Over time, the site evolved into a semi-serious troll hub, spawning its own weird culture and an ongoing grudge against 4chan staff. So when 4chan got hacked, the Sharty did what the Sharty does best: took credit, made memes, and gloated all across /soy/.

How Did Internet Users React to the 4chan Leak?

Reaction ranged from delighted chaos to horrified amusement. X user @Priniz_twt gathered thousands of likes for just posting about it, while @LumpyTheCook chimed in to congratulate "Hiro," referring to 4chan's owner Hiroyuki Nishimura, on the mess.

Meanwhile, Redditor /u/Meteorstar101 manage to immortalize the moment 4chan was hacked by showing a board throwing up at Minecraft Chicken Jockey meme, which is as good of a send-off as the site will ever get.

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For the full history of the April 2025 4chan Sharty Hack And Janitor Email Leak, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.