icon bookmark-bicon bookmarkicon cameraicon checkicon chevron downicon chevron lefticon chevron righticon chevron upicon closeicon v-compressicon downloadicon editicon v-expandicon fbicon fileicon filtericon flag ruicon full chevron downicon full chevron lefticon full chevron righticon full chevron upicon gpicon insicon mailicon moveicon-musicicon mutedicon nomutedicon okicon v-pauseicon v-playicon searchicon shareicon sign inicon sign upicon stepbackicon stepforicon swipe downicon tagicon tagsicon tgicon trashicon twicon vkicon yticon wticon fm
28 Jan, 2021 10:54

Elon Musk accuses Discord of ‘going corpo’ after it shut down WallStreetBets amid assault on GameStop short sellers

Elon Musk accuses Discord of ‘going corpo’ after it shut down WallStreetBets amid assault on GameStop short sellers

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has accused Discord of selling out because it shut down its ‘WallStreetBets’ channel after members wreaked havoc on hedge funds by sending share prices in GameStop and other embattled stocks skyrocketing.

Discord claims the ban was due to hate speech and had nothing to do with the extraordinary impact the retail investors who use the channel – and its counterpart on Reddit – were having on professional short sellers, who profit from falling share prices.

Also on rt.com NASDAQ temporarily shuts down stock trading after internet trolls destroy hedge fund with GameStop stock

However, Musk was among the many people who came to the conclusion that the timing of the ban was far more than a coincidence. The world’s richest person gave his analysis of the situation in a concise tweet. “Even Discord has gone corpo…,” he said.

Musk had earlier given his support for the WallStreetBets movement, adding further momentum to GameStop’s soaring share price, which gained more than 1,700 percent since January.

Members of Reddit’s r/WallStreetBets page also took aim at Discord, labelling the platform’s treatment of the community as “pretty unethical”.

“Discord did us dirty and I am not impressed with them destroying our community instead of stepping in with the wrench we may have needed to fix things, especially after we got over 1,000 server boosts,” one of the moderators said.

Also on rt.com ‘We’re suffering from success’: WallStreetBets say Discord ‘did’ them ‘dirty’ with ban over HATE SPEECH amid moderation backlog

The David and Goliath battle between the small investors and Wall Street hedge funds shows no signs of abating as the retail traders flood money into other companies, such as cinema chain AMC and BlackBerry, that have been targeted by short sellers.

Like this story? Share it with a friend!

Podcasts
0:00
29:12
0:00
28:18