Founder of ‘Meme Stocks’ Forum Sues Reddit After Being Booted From Platform

thewrap.com:

AMC Entertainment and Cinemark on wild rides the last few years, is suing the platform, accusing it of breaching contract by booting him from his role as moderator of the WallStreetBets forum in 2020 and infringing on his right to trademark the name as his brand.“I felt this was personal, and I felt betrayed,” Rogozinski told The Wall Street Journal.A Reddit spokeswoman called the lawsuit completely frivolous and said his claims had no basis in reality, the Journal reported.“Jamie was removed as a moderator of r/WallStreetBets by Reddit and banned by the community moderators for attempting to enrich himself.

This lawsuit is another transparent attempt to enrich himself,” the spokeswoman said. “It’s telling that he is filing this suit three years after he was banned from r/WallStreetBets and long after the community rose in mainstream popularity without his involvement,” she said. “We’ll respond directly in court and continue to protect the best interests of the communities and moderators on our platform.”While the meme stock craze died down during 2022’s market slump, after being fueled by bored stimulus check recipients trapped at home during the pandemic lockdown, AMC and other stocks targeted in the forum remain volatile.Rogozinski founded WallStreetBets in 2012 with an eye toward creating a more dynamic community than the dull analysis he found online and on cable news.

The forum was relatively unknown until 2019, when major brokerages like Charles Schwab and Fidelity eliminated commissions, making trading more accessible and popular to ordinary investors, as opposed to Wall Street traders.