The Discord server for “WallStreetBets” (WSB), the group of retail investors who sent Gamestop’s stock price skyrocketing, has been taken down.
Discord, a popular communication platform for online interest groups and gamers, took down WSB Wednesday night after markets closed for allegedly violating Discord’s “hate speech” policies, according to The Verge. The WSB subreddit, where the group originally formed and primarily communicates, was temporarily set to private before being re-opened.
r/WSB down RIP
— WSB Chairman (@WSBChairman) January 27, 2021
Subreddits that are set to private are inaccessible for anyone that isn’t a subscriber, and new users can only subscribe via invite. A Reddit spokesperson reportedly told CNBC that the moderators of the community set it to private themselves, and it wasn’t an act of Reddit administrators.
The moderators of the subreddit retweeted a tweet stating that the community was set to private because moderators were “overwhelmed.” WSB began receiving substantial corporate media attention in recent days for driving the stock price of Gamestop up more than 600% in less than a week, causing massive losses for Wall Street hedge funds that had shorted the stock. (RELATED: How A Rabble Of Anonymous Redditors Stuck A Thumb In Wall Street’s Eye)
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 28, 2021
“Reddit’s site-wide policies prohibit posting illegal content or soliciting or facilitating illegal transaction,” the Reddit spokesperson reportedly told CNBC. “We will review and cooperate with valid law enforcement investigations or actions as needed.”
These two statements make this whole thing look a lot like:
Betting on America to fail: “Stability, efficiency, orderly.”
Sticking it *HARD* to suits making bank betting on America to fail: “Hate speech, glorifying violence, spreading misinformation” pic.twitter.com/BkGmGeaNOx
— Geoffrey Ingersoll (@GPIngersoll) January 28, 2021
For now, some users have migrated to a new subreddit, r/wallstreetbetsnew.