A threat against actress Emma Watson in response to a gender equality speech she made at the United Nations now appears to have been a viral marketing stunt.

The Harry Potter star and UN women’s ambassador delivered an impassioned speech at the launch of the UN’s HeForShe campaign, which calls for men to support women in striving for gender equality.

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Users of the online community 4chan, which previously leaked private nude photos of female celebrities including Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton, created a thread linking to a webpage called “EmmaYouAreNext.com”.

The page showed a photo of Watson with a clock, suggesting a countdown to the time nude photos of her would be posted.

Social media users rallied behind Watson in condemning the threats and blaming 4chan users for the website.

But it now appears to have been a marketing stunt by an organisation called Rantic, which aims to shut down 4chan.

The redirected page now shows a message to US president Barack Obama and calls on people to support the calls to shut down the site.

“We have been hired by celebrity publicists to bring this disgusting issue to attention,” the statement said.

“The recent 4chan celebrity nude leaks in past 2 months have been an invasion of privacy and is also clear indication that the internet need to be censored.”

The #shutdown4chan hashtag gained some momentum on Twitter, but some users raised concerns that it aimed to eclipse conversation about Watson’s gender equality speech.

Watson’s speech, made in New York on Saturday, spoke of the importance of gender equality for both men and women.

“I want men to take up this mantle so their daughters, sisters and mothers can be free from prejudice but also so their sons have permission to be vulnerable and human, too and in doing so, be a more true and complete version of themselves,” the 24-year-old actress said.

Watson has not yet responded publicly to the news that the threats were a hoax.