WallStreetBets, the investor coalition that gained fame for raising shares since its post on Reddit, was banned by communications platform Discord for not doing enough to curb hate speech.
A Discord representative said Wednesday that he had long been monitoring the group for violating community guidelines and had issued several warnings to the administrator of the so-called server, essentially a digital room where people can gather to chat.
The move was not tied to WallStreetBets ’efforts to promote actions such as GameStop Corp., the representative said. It was to allow for “hateful and discriminatory content after repeated warnings.” Discord’s guidelines prohibit hate speech, glorification of violence, and dissemination of misinformation.
“Discord welcomes a wide variety of discussions on personal finance, from investment clubs and day traders to college students and professional financial advisors,” the spokesman said. “We are monitoring this situation and in case there are allegations of illegal activities, we will cooperate with the authorities as appropriate.”
The ban fell like a separate drama was deployed on Reddit, where WallStreetBets was disabled for new users. Shortly after 6:30 p.m. in New York, the WallStreetBets homepage indicated that the moderators had made the chat private, meaning an invitation was needed to enter. The site had attracted more than 3 million members and had promoted actions such as GameStop and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., which leads to stratospheric gains.
GameStop, a struggling video game retailer, has risen 1,745% this year. AMC, a film chain that flirted with bankruptcy, has gained 839%.
Elon Musk, the provocative billionaire yes expressed amusement at the WallStreetsBets phenomenon, tweeted his annoyance at the Discord movement on Wednesday afternoon.
– With the assistance of Katherine Greifeld and Sarah Ponczek
(Updates with Musk’s tweet in the final paragraph)