Following a day of significant activity in the financial markets, spurred by individual investors coordinating stock trades and challenging hedge fund positions, the online community previously active on the r/wallstreetbets Discord server is now unavailable, and access to the subreddit has been temporarily restricted to a private setting.

Discord communicated earlier today that the WallStreetBets server was removed due to breaches of their guidelines regarding hate speech, despite prior notifications. The server experienced a substantial increase in user activity in recent days, coinciding with the surge in attention to the associated subreddit.

Regarding Reddit, the circumstances are less straightforward. It doesn’t seem Reddit itself directly intervened against the community; rather, the moderators of r/wallstreetbets appear to have temporarily made the subreddit private due to being overwhelmed by the large number of new users joining. Currently, only moderators and pre-approved members are permitted to access the community. Many established subscribers have reported on social media that they are unable to enter the forum, which had accumulated several million members.

We have contacted Reddit to request additional details.

A Reddit representative provided a statement to TechCrunch earlier today, prior to the subreddit being set to private, stating, “Reddit’s policies across the platform do not permit the posting of unlawful content or the request or encouragement of illegal activities. We will assess and assist with legitimate investigations or legal actions by law enforcement as required.”

Here is the complete statement from a Discord spokesperson, as provided to TechCrunch: