My theory is that bad actors with money (right-wing billionaires, Putin, etc.) discovered these organic platforms populated by young white cis-het male edgelords (4chan, etc.) and saw them as good frameworks on which to hang commissioned and custom-designed memes that would further their goals.
The practise quickly metastasised onto poorly moderated mainstream social-media and gaming platforms and became part of the larger right-wing Mighty Wurlitzer pipeline.
