United against the market power of the big hedge funds – that was the intention of the Wallstreetbets traders. But now it has come to a dispute among the moderators. Reddit reacts by blocking several moderators.
In the first weeks of the new year, the young Wallstreetbets traders have caused a lot of turmoil on the stock market with their agreements.
Together, they rebelled against the enrichment of the big hedge fund managers and short-sellers – and are now struggling with precisely this problem themselves: the personal enrichment of individuals.
As the New York Times reports, the moderators of the Reddit group r/wallstreetbets have been fighting over movie deals.
Sudden fame goes to Wallstreetbets moderators’ heads
The movie-like hype surrounding the Robinhood traders, who colluded on Reddit to help Gamestop stock soar, among other things, unsurprisingly called Hollywood into action. Some movie and series plans have already been made public.
Among them is one by book author Ben Mezrich, who is also behind the Facebook movie “The Social Network.” Hollywood studio MGM has already secured the film rights to his story about the Wall Street rebels.
However, the sudden attention of the Reddit group and discussions about the possible film adaptation of the Gamestop story has now also brought former, actually already inactive moderators of the group onto the scene.
Controversy in the perfect Robinhood world
The Wallstreetbets subreddit has existed since 2012, but only since the hype surrounding the Gamestop stock has its membership skyrocketed.
In recent weeks, the group is said to have even had several dozen moderators. They are also said to have held secret meetings in private Discord chat rooms to discuss how they can make the most of their newfound fame.
Secret does not stay secret
This apparently became too much for the moderator “zjz”. He posted pictures from the secret conversations in a larger chat room.
To the New York Times, the user explains, “We suddenly found out that these previously inactive moderators are literally trying to sell the subreddit creation story and undermine us.”
In a post that was later deleted, “zjz” wrote in the Wallstreetsbets group, “We were taken hostage by the top mods. They were gone for years and came back when they smelled money.”
Reddit cracks down on Wallstreetbets
Now Reddit has stepped in and removed the moderators who participated in the “attempted coup.” To do so, the platform cites its moderator guidelines, which call for a “stable and active team” of moderators.
According to The Verge, 28 of the few dozen moderators now remain. The user “zjz” was also deleted from the moderator team.
Mashable quotes from Reddit’s statement, “We know that our decisions today will upset many. From our perspective, this intervention was necessary to preserve the Wallstreetbets community.”
The top moderators, on the other hand, have made it known that they do not want to get rich from potential movie deals. All earnings are to go to charity.
