Social:bestgore.com
Type of site | Shock site/anti-censorship |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Owner | Mark Marek |
| Created by | Mark Marek and contributors |
| Revenue | Advertising and donations |
| Registration | Optional |
| Users | Estimated 1.2 billion page views per month[1] |
| Launched | April 30, 2008[2] |
| Current status | Defunct since November 15, 2020[3] |
bestgore.com (stylized as BestGore.com and abbreviated BG[4]) was a Canada shock site owned by Mark Marek,[5] which provided highly violent real-life news, photos and videos, with authored opinion and user comments. The site received media attention in 2012, following the hosting of a snuff film depicting the murder of Jun Lin. As a result, Marek was arrested and charged under Canada's obscenity law with corrupting public morals.
History
The site was launched on April 30, 2008, by Slovak-Canadian Mark Marek,[6] and hosted explicit, real-life, photographic and video material of events such as murders, suicides, torture, open surgeries, mutilations and accidents.
In a 2017 interview with GQ Australia, Mark Marek insisted that running BestGore.com costs more than it generates in revenue and said, "No company with a reasonable budget would want to advertise on a website that exposes police brutality, government abuse of citizens, war profiteering and similar anti-people activities. So all I'm left with is porn. Worse yet, porn earns less today than it did five years ago".[7]
As of November 15, 2020, the website is considered defunct as Marek, its founder and administrator, has decided to focus his attention on other interests. On November 17, 2020, when asked in the comment section on BestGore.com's lbry.tv site whether BestGore.com is down and if it will be indefinitely, Mark Marek replied, "Most likely permanently".[8]
Controversies and legal issues
Murder of Jun Lin
In June 2012, the website was criticized for the inclusion of the graphic video titled 1 Lunatic 1 Ice Pick, which depicts the rape and dismemberment of a corpse following the murder of Jun Lin committed by Luka Magnotta. Police said that Marek had initially refused requests to remove the video from the site, while Marek said, "I took it down myself, on my own terms, without being asked. Had any such request by police to take it down, as alleged, been made, I would have just told them that the video had been down for days."[9][10] Gil Zvulony, a Toronto-based lawyer specializing in Internet law, stated that the evidence supported the laying of obscenity charges against BestGore.com, stating, "There's no real crime where there's no knowledge, but once they got notice of that and they allowed it to stay on there."[10]
Corruption of morals charge
In June 2012, it was reported that the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal was investigating Bestgore.com[11] for charges of obscenity due to the posting of 1 Lunatic 1 Ice Pick. The Toronto Sun claimed that charges were pending against Marek, which he denied.[12][13]
On July 16, 2013, Edmonton police charged Marek with one count of "corrupting morals" in connection with posting the Magnotta video. The rare charge is based on section 163 of the Canadian Criminal Code and carries a maximum sentence of two years' imprisonment. One police investigator described the site as "a racist website, inciting hate, hatred, violence—violence above and beyond anything normal."[14][15] Marek was released on bail, but was re-arrested on July 26 for allegedly violating the terms of his release.[16] In January 2016, he pleaded guilty and was given a conditional sentence of three months of house arrest followed by three months of community service.[17]
In a November 2013 interview with Adrianne Jeffries of The Verge, Marek said that section 163(1) prohibits distribution of crime comics and methods of curing venereal disease, and noted that the law was enforced selectively and could be used indiscriminately. Marek also defended the value of actually looking at gory material:[18]
You can take the publishing of the chainsaw beheading[19] by the Syrian rebels propaganda team who claimed that this atrocity was committed by people behind president Bashal al-Assad [sic]. The video stirred major outrage in the ranks of the sheeple, but it didn't fool anyone on Best Gore, because we know where the video is really from. It's been on Best Gore since before the Syrian fraudulent revolution started and we have its full version, including the original audio and know it's from Mexico.[20] It was the same when Best Gore busted the rebels about the publishing of the domestic gas leak explosion[21] which they also manipulated into looking like the aftermath of alleged indiscriminate bombings by the rulers. Or more recently, when the whole world was revving about Muslims being slaughtered by Buddhists in Burma (Myanmar)[22]—the propaganda fooled everyone, except us on Best Gore because we recognized the lynching video from Kenya,[23] the earthquake in Tibet and the tsunami disaster in Thailand which had been used in unrelated context.
Marek said that he had received testimonies from readers stating that viewing the images on his site had convinced them to avoid speeding, darting between traffic on motorcycle, horseplay with forklifts, even from committing suicide, and that the government itself recognized the utility of shocking images by requiring them on cigarette packaging.[18]
See also
- Ogrish.com
- Goregrish.com
- LiveLeak
- Rotten.com
- Stile Project
References
- ↑ "Dozen Years, Best Gore". Best Gore. 2020-04-30. https://www.bestgore.com/brain-fart/dozen-years-best-motherfucking-gore/.
- ↑ "Six Years of Best Motherfucking Gore". BestGore.com. 2014-04-30. http://www.bestgore.com/brain-fart/six-years-of-best-motherfucking-gore/.
- ↑ "Mark Marek confirms Bestgore.com shutdown". https://lbry.tv/@BestGore:2?view=discussion.
- ↑ "Dozen Years of Best Motherfucking Gore – Best Gore" (in en-US). https://www.bestgore.com/brain-fart/dozen-years-best-motherfucking-gore/.
- ↑ Bambury, Brent (June 1, 2012). "Interview with Mark Marek From Best Gore website" . CBC.ca.
- ↑ "Edmonton gore site owner charged in Magnotta video investigation released on bail". Global News. 18 July 2013. http://globalnews.ca/news/723495/police-charge-edmonton-gore-site-owner-in-magnotta-video-investigation/.
- ↑ "Millar, Jake (May 12, 2017). Inside The World Of Gore: Why Gruesome Videos Draw A Crowd". https://www.gq.com.au/success/opinions/inside-the-world-of-gore-why-gruesome-videos-draw-a-crowd/news-story/b995b81af16713e679a2f74ba8522694.
- ↑ "Mark Marek confirms BestGore.com shutdown". https://lbry.tv/@BestGore:2?view=discussion.
- ↑ "Statement by Marek" August 20, 2013
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Cohen, Tobi (June 5, 2012). "Leaving murder video online is a crime: lawyer". National Post. https://nationalpost.com/Leaving+murder+video+online+crime+lawyer/6729821/story.html.
- ↑ "Best Gore website investigated over Magnotta video" CBC.ca. June 5, 2012.
- ↑ Roth, Pamela (June 5, 2012). "Charges pending on Bestgore.com webmaster" . Toronto Sun.
- ↑ Graveland, Bill (June 5, 2012). "Gore site owner says he hasn't heard from police about dismemberment video" . The Canadian Press.
- ↑ Canadian Press (July 17, 2013). "Gore site owner charged for posting dismemberment video in Luka Magnotta case". The Globe and Mail (Toronto). https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/gore-site-owner-charged-for-posting-dismemberment-video-in-luka-magnotta-case/article13282060/.
- ↑ "Police charge Edmonton gore site owner in Magnotta video investigation". Global News. July 17, 2013. http://globalnews.ca/news/723495/police-charge-edmonton-gore-site-owner-in-magnotta-video-investigation/.
- ↑ Lazzarino, Dave (July 26, 2013). "Bestgore.com operator back in custody after allegedly breaking bail conditions". QMI Agency. http://www.torontosun.com/2013/07/26/bestgorecom-operator-back-in-custody-after-allegedly-breaking-bail-conditions.
- ↑ Reith, Terry. "Mark Marek, who posted Magnotta murder video, pleads guilty to corrupting morals". http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/marek-trial-opens-1.3416408.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 "Mark Marek Interviewed by Adrianne Jeffries from The Verge". Politicalprisoner.ca. November 26, 2013. https://sites.google.com/site/luatlongphan/.
- ↑ "Mexican Chainsaw Beheading Used in Anti Assad Propaganda". bestgore.com. http://www.bestgore.com/beheading/mexican-chainsaw-beheading-used-anti-assad-propaganda/.
- ↑ "Chainsaw Beheading Video - Sinaloa Cartel Members Decapitated in Mexico - Best Gore". bestgore.com. http://www.bestgore.com/beheading/chainsaw-beheading-video-sinaloa-cartel-members-decapitated-mexico/.
- ↑ "Man Dies in Domestic Gas Leak Explosion, Video Used for Propaganda". bestgore.com. http://www.bestgore.com/workplace-accident/man-dies-domestic-gas-leak-explosion-video-propaganda/.
- ↑ "Ethnic Cleansing of Muslims by Buddhists in Burma". bestgore.com. http://www.bestgore.com/murder/ethnic-cleansing-muslims-buddhists-burma-myanmar/.
- ↑ http://www.politicalprisoner.ca/2013/11/interviews/mark-marek-interview-adrianne-jeffries-the-verge/Ethnic%20Cleansing%20of%20Muslims%20by%20Buddhists%20in%20Burma [|permanent dead link|dead link}}]
External links
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