Reddit Inc. Chief Executive Steve Huffman on Sunday reiterated his praise for the r / WallStreetBets forum, which has left Wall Street “meme stocks” staggering in recent weeks – although he said he does not get his own financial advice there.
In a congressional hearing last week, Huffman said he was proud of Reddit’s role in the frenzy that led to GameStop Corp. GME,
and AMC Entertainment AMC,
among other strongly sold shares, soared. After falling back to earth, GameStop’s stock skyrocketed again last week, firing 150%, again attributed to Reddit’s chatter.
In an interview with “Axios on HBO” that aired on Sunday night, Huffman expanded the role of WallStreetBets: “This community has exposed a gap between those who have access to the financial markets and those who are outside,” he said. Axios. “At WallStreetBets you see a community, among many things, that is invading – or trying to enter – this establishment.”
At last week’s hearing, Huffman went so far as to say that Reddit is one of the best places to get financial advice, “because it has to be accepted by thousands of people before getting that visibility vote.”
But when asked by Axios if he takes any financial advice from Reddit forums, Huffman said he didn’t.
“No, in my personal life I am very conservative financially,” he said. “Since Reddit is a growing business, it is an extremely high risk, and that is sufficient risk for me personally.”
In the interview, Huffman also praised Reddit’s forum moderation system and said the company will continue to allow pornography on its platform, as long as it is not exploitative. “You can look at [porn] as an explorer. And, in fact, much of it is, ”said Huffman. “And this is not the content we want on Reddit. But there is another aspect that strengthens. And these are people who share stories of themselves, pictures of themselves. And we support that perfectly. ”