Reddit board linked to GameStop stock surge briefly goes private
The raunchy Reddit forum Wall Street Bets, which has been linked to GameStop’s astronomical stock rally, briefly went private on Wednesday night as Discord banned the group from its platform.
Moderators of the subreddit set the community to private, according to Reddit, closing the group to everyone but moderators and approved users. But it returned to public by around 8 p.m.
The forum fell under scrutiny as investors scratched their heads at the financial geyser for GameStop, a long-struggling company that mysteriously saw its stock price soar by more than 1,000% since December.
GameStop shares explode after Reddit users take on Wall Street
The Reddit board appears to have played a role in driving amateur traders to purchase GameStop shares in an effort to hurt hedge funds that bet that the video game retailer’s price would drop.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said in a statement on Wednesday that it was monitoring stock volatility, but did not reference GameStop. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 2%.
“Reddit’s site-wide policies prohibit posting illegal content or soliciting or facilitating illegal transactions,” Reddit said in a statement. “We will review and cooperate with valid law enforcement investigations or actions as needed.”
Discord, a popular chatting platform that can serve as a home for investment groups, said in a statement Wednesday that its move to ban Wall Street Bets was not “due to financial fraud related to GameStop or other stocks” and that it has been tracking the server over an extended period of time.
“Today, we decided to remove the server and its owner from Discord for continuing to allow hateful and discriminatory content after repeated warnings,” Discord said in its statement.
A moderator on the Wall Street Bets board lashed out at Discord in a post published Wednesday night.
“Discord did us dirty and I am not impressed with them destroying our community,” said the post.
