WallStreetBets, the coalition of investors that gained fame for increasing the shares of its position on Reddit, was banned by the communications platform Discord for not doing enough to contain hate speech.
A Discord representative said on Wednesday that he had been monitoring the group for some time for violating community guidelines and issued several notices to the so-called server administrator – essentially a digital room where people can gather to chat.
The change was not linked to WallStreetBets’ efforts to promote actions such as GameStop Corp. said the representative. It was to allow “hateful and discriminatory content after repeated warnings”. Discord guidelines prohibit hate speech, the glorification of violence and the spread of misinformation.
“Discord welcomes a wide range of discussions on personal finance, from investment clubs and day traders to university students and professional financial advisers,” said the spokesman. “We are monitoring this situation and, if there are reports of illegal activities, we will cooperate with the authorities as appropriate.”
The ban fell like a separate drama unfolded on Reddit, where WallStreetBets shut down for new users. Shortly after 6:30 pm in New York, the WallStreetBets home page indicated that the moderators had made the chat private, meaning that an invitation was required to enter. The site attracted more than 3 million members and promoted actions such as GameStop and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., leading to stratospheric gains.
GameStop, a struggling video game retailer, rose 1,745% this year. AMC, the cinema chain that flirted with bankruptcy, gained 839%.
– With the help of Katherine Greifeld and Sarah Ponczek