This idea of sending rape and death threats got ratcheted into high gear during the Gamergate Event that started in 2014 ,(naturally it was 4chan), when Anita Sarkeesian announced that she would be critically assessing videogames. She received so many threats on her life that has been doxed and has had to move multiple times.

Since that time we've seen an overall increase of this behavior against more and more people, and since the powers that be didn't nip it in the bud then because it was only happening to women, and wasn't affecting them, like every other societal problem we have today that got ignored, it came to rest on their doorstep too.

Now celebrities, politicians, and anybody else that anyone has a reason to disagree with online catches it. It has become the go-to act to simply threaten violence whenever someone is unhappy with any other person online.