The founder of Reddit forum WallStreetBets is suing the social media platform after he was kicked out of the now-infamous community that has disrupted financial markets.
Jaime Rogozinski, who created the stock and financial advice subreddit in 2012, is accusing the site of illegally banning him from his role moderating the forum – which has grown to over 13.6 million users – and infringing his rights to trademark “WallStreetBets”.
Rogozinski has said his ousting, which the site says was for violating Reddit policy by “attempting to monetize a community”, is simply a pretext to keep him from trying to control “a famous brand that helped Reddit rise to a $10 billion valuation” by late 2021, said Reuters.
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According to the lawsuit filed in Oakland, California, Rogozinski applied to trademark “WallStreetBets” in March 2020, shortly after the forum reached one million users.
One month later, Reddit removed him for violating their policy after he “posted an Amazon listing” for a book he had published earlier that year entitled WallStreetBets: How Boomers Made the World’s Biggest Casino for Millennials, as well as for announcing “a sponsored trading competition on the subreddit”, according to Quartz.
The financial advice subreddit, which has the tagline “like 4chan found a Bloomberg terminal”, has been a major force in igniting investor activity around so-called “meme” stocks. Just months after Rogozinski was banned from the forum, WallStreetBets users helped set off a “trading frenzy” in a “short-seller squeeze” that targeted shares in GameStop.
Other famous so-called “meme” stocks include shares in cinema chain AMC Entertainment as well as retail chain Bed Bath & Beyond.
Reddit has branded the lawsuit “completely frivolous” and said it has “no basis in reality”. A spokesperson told Reuters: “Jaime 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.”
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Rogozinski said that he felt the ousting was “personal” and that he feels “betrayed” by the affair.
He is seeking at least $1m in damages for breach of contract and violations of his publicity rights, and a ban on Reddit’s use of WallStreetBets unless it reinstates him as senior moderator of the r/WallStreetBets subreddit.
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