The r/WallStreetBets server has been banned from Discord for hate speech
The subreddit behind the rise of the GameStop (GME) stock has had its server banned from the popular VoIP program.
The subreddit r/WallStreetBets has been in the news recently following the group’s push to increase the price of GameStop’s (GME) stock, but now the collective has had its Discord server banned. According to a statement from Discord, the ban had nothing to do with anything related to GameStop but was due to hate speech.
Industry insider Rod “Slasher” Breslau shared on Twitter a statement from Discord following the subreddit’s banning. In the statement, Discord states that the r/WallStreetBets server had “been on the Trust & Safety team’s radar” due to content that violated the platform's guidelines.
The company had issued several warnings over the past months to the server admin, who has also been removed from Discord. The team at The Verge were able to gain access to the server before it was taken down and confirmed users were “spamming hateful language, including racial slurs”.
Discord’s statement on the banning of the r/WallStreetBets server takes special care to note that the banning had nothing to do with “financial fraud related to GameStop or other stocks”. The team is monitoring the situation closely and claims, “in the event there are allegations of illegal activities, we will cooperate with authorities as appropriate”.
The r/WallStreetBets subreddit has also been set to Private, meaning only those already approved or invited can view the page. The subreddit has issued the following statement regarding the lock:
We are experiencing technical difficulties based on unprecedented scale as a result of the newfound interest in WSB. We are unable to ensure Reddit's content policy and the WSB rules are enforceable without a technology platform that can support automation of this enforcement. WSB will be back.
Users have begun shifting to the r/litquidity subreddit to continue discussions.
All of this has occurred only a day after the subreddit drew more attention following an open letter to CNBC. In the letter, a user claimed that CNBC had “contempt for the retail investor” and that hedge funds can “manipulate the market via your network”.
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replySam Chandler posted a new article, The r/WallStreetBets server has been banned from Discord for hate speech
