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Pump.fun, the memecoin launchpad that took the crypto world by storm since its launch earlier this year, has announced an indefinite suspension of its controversial livestream feature.
In a Community Notice published earlier today, Pump.fun acknowledged the growing concerns about harmful and disturbing content on its platform and outlined steps to address the issue. The platform emphasized its commitment to ensuring user safety and stated that livestreams will remain paused until a more robust moderation infrastructure is in place.
The announcement comes after a series of incidents highlighted the darker side of Pump.fun’s user-generated content. Among the most harrowing cases was a livestream where an individual threatened self-harm if their memecoin didn’t hit a specific market cap. Beau, a Pudgy Penguins safety project manager, took to X (formerly Twitter) to urge Pump.fun to deactivate livestreams, describing the feature as “out of control.”
Hey @pumpdotfun there is currently someone using your livestreams to threaten to hang themselves if the coin does not reach a set marketcap.
— Beau (@beausecurity) November 25, 2024
Absolutely heinous and It needs to come down + see if you can get them help.
Shut down the livestream feature. This is out of control.
Other appalling incidents included threats of violence tied to coin price movements, such as users brandishing weapons and making ominous statements about school safety. In one instance, a child was seen making threats against family members over a token’s performance.
Pump.fun’s team admitted to struggling with the platform’s explosive growth, which saw daily livestreams surge by over 100x within a week. Despite doubling its human moderation team and implementing automated systems, the platform couldn’t keep up with the sheer volume of problematic content.
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The Community Notice detailed plans for significant improvements, including expanded moderation systems, both human and automated; transparent publishing of guidelines for acceptable content; and enhanced visibility for creators and users into moderation decisions.
“Our platform has experienced unprecedented growth, but to ensure the absolute safety of our users, we will be pausing the live streaming functionality on the site for an indefinite time period,” the notice read.
While the decision to suspend livestreams has been widely welcomed, some within the community remain skeptical about Pump.fun’s ability to recover from the reputational damage. Critics argue that the platform’s hands-off approach allowed harmful behavior to proliferate unchecked.
The question now is whether Pump.fun can navigate this crisis while retaining its user base and credibility.
