A desperate man commits an act of self-inflicted violence on a livestreaming site in the hopes of collecting a windfall of digital money from strangers. Sound familiar?
No, we’re not talking about outrageous exploits related to meme coin trading sensation Pump.fun. Or well, not explicitly. We’re outlining the plot of an episode in the latest season of “Black Mirror.”
The first installment of the hit Netflix sci-fi series’ latest season, which debuted Thursday, centers on a plot that appears ripped from true stories about the viral Solana meme coin generator.
The episode, titled “Common People,” weaves the tale of a cash-strapped husband who—in the aim of paying his wife’s mounting medical bills—begins livestreaming himself performing increasingly extreme acts of self-harm in return for greater sums of digital cash sent by anonymous viewers.
The plot sounds an awful lot like similar incidents that have occurred in relation to Pump.fun tokens over the last year. Last summer, for instance, a budding meme coin entrepreneur set his entire body on fire in the hopes of sending his own meme coin soaring. The stunt, which was streamed live online, left the trader with third-degree burns and zero profits.
The “Black Mirror” episode in question doesn’t feature self-immolation—nor does it explicitly reference Pump.fun. It instead sees a miserable-looking Chris O’Dowd placing various sensitive body parts in a mousetrap, during livestreams on a fictional site called “Dum Dummies.”
The fake site isn’t outright described as crypto-related, either. But crypto traders have rushed to embrace the plot point as a direct reference to Pump.fun—a development that many have described as bullish, despite the show’s grim themes.
In classic meta fashion, the show has now prompted numerous Pump.fun users to launch their own “Black Mirror” themed tokens, attempting to squeeze some profit out of the news cycle. As is often the case, especially amid a meme coin market downswing, all of them have since crashed.
While some stunt streams related to Pump.fun meme coins took place on other platforms, the launcher debuted its own livestreaming service last year—but pulled the plug on the feature in November after allegations swirled that users were harming themselves and animals during streams on the site. At the time, the Pump team said that staggering spikes in livestreams on their site had overwhelmed their ability to moderate such content.
Just last week, the site quietly revived its livestream page. Alon Cohen, one of Pump.fun’s founders, emphasized that the site has rolled out increased moderation and new guidelines to ensure user safety. That feature has now rolled out to all Pump.fun users, the platform announced Friday.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
