Pump.fun Disables Live Stream Feature After Facing Backlash

Pump.fun have disabled their Live Stream feature after facing heavy backlash due to their silence after allowing several extreme cases of users exploiting the tool.

Pump.fun introduced the Live Streams in May earlier this year. However, what was supposed to be a revolutionary addition to the platform, has now turned into a horrific nightmare, with death threats and violence taking centre stage.

But how did we get here?

Memecoins have become a leading narrative in the Crypto space over the last few months, and pump.fun have been the platform at the forefront of the memecoin craze. The memecoin launchpad allows anyone to create an instantly tradeable coin in one click for free, and this gives users an open platform with really low barriers of entry. You don’t need to know how to code, you don’t need any experience, anyone can do it.

As a result, we’ve seen millions of tokens being launched on pump.fun. However, not all of them have been launched with the right intentions. Users have capitalised on trending memes and news to launch tokens related to whatever is getting attention around the world, with some going as far as creating tokens related to celebrity deaths and other sensitive topics.

This gave the Crypto space a reality check on the downside of giving pretty much anyone the opportunity to launch a token about anything they want; but the worst was yet to come.

At this point, millions of people have been onboarded to memecoins, and traders have tried to adapt and find different ways to frontrun the fast-growing competition they’re facing. Unfortunately, this led to users going through extreme measures to make money, with some exploiting pump.fun’s live streaming tool, by either threatening, or actually doing extreme things if their coin doesn’t hit a specific price/market cap.

The live streamers were getting a lot of attention and engagement, with viewers either in shock, or some going as far as encouraging them, showcasing the dark side of memecoin culture. Posts were being spread on X with insane headlines and captions, giving context on several cases.

A viral post on X (pictured below) raised awareness of an extremely worrying case, and urged pump.fun to shut down the live stream feature, stating that it had gone out of control.

The post was seen at least 1.4M times and sparked a massive discussion within the Crypto community, with many questioning pump.fun, concerned about whether or not any action will be taken by the memecoin platform. Unfortunately, this is one of many extreme cases that have been circulating around social media, and it has left a lot of people wondering: How on earth did it get this bad?

Some have questioned the fact that pump.fun doesn’t have enough safeguarding measures in place. Major platforms like YouTube and Twitch have safeguarding policies, with both automated and manual methods of monitoring the nature of what’s being streamed. Pump.fun on the other hand, seemed to not have enough of these measures in place, leading to an uncontrollable environment with harmful content allowed to be broadcasted without any restriction. 

However, it’s important to remember that this level of freedom is what a lot of people in Crypto have wanted for decentralised platforms, but with outcomes similar to that of what we’ve seen happen with pump.fun live streams, it poses the question: Does the Crypto space want freedom or control measures? And how can developers find the right balance, if any?

On 25 November 2024, pump.fun paused the live streaming feature for an indefinite time period. They’ve released a community notice , in which they stated that they’ve doubled the number of human moderators and have invested into improving moderation methods, including automated moderation systems to tackle inappropriate content straight away.

Whether or not this will significantly impact pump.fun going forward remains to be seen, however what’s certain is that the controversy has left several question marks over the regulations and safety of the platform.