Morgan Stanley takes aim at X accounts posting its research
Published Fri, Sep 4, 2026 · 08:29 AM
[NEW YORK] Morgan Stanley complained to X about posts on the social media site using the bank’s charts and research, leading to at least one account getting temporarily locked.
The bank has filed Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) complaints citing at least 16 accounts that offered screenshots from the bank’s research, according to a document shared with Bloomberg News by Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group, whose account was locked on Wednesday (Sep 2) evening.
Detrick said in an interview with Bloomberg that the post cited by X included a chart from a research report written by Mike Wilson, Morgan Stanley’s chief US equity strategist and chief investment officer.
Like other bank research, many Morgan Stanley reports are sent to clients and not circulated publicly.
Detrick, who has 222,400 followers on X, said he was puzzled because the company did not reach out to him directly about the post, which had been online since April and cited Wilson and the bank.
“If they had just reached out, I would’ve taken it down,” said Detrick, who has posted research and ideas from banks and other sources for years, and has not faced a similar situation in the past.
The email that Detrick received from X included the original request from Morgan Stanley, which claimed that the “copyrighted work is, in full or part (reports, graphs & charts), a proprietary Morgan Stanley Research Report”.
The message included links to 16 other posts from different X users, most of which have been taken down or edited to remove the bank’s content.
Many of the posts directly attributed the media to Morgan Stanley. One of the other users cited by Morgan Stanley responded to Detrick on X and said that he was facing a similar situation.
A spokesperson for Morgan Stanley declined to comment. X, which is a part of SpaceX, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The buzzing world of financial social media, or Fintwit, is filled with finance enthusiasts who post charts and research they see online, often leading to lively discussions on the market news of the day.
Detrick said Morgan Stanley’s actions show that they do not understand this is “just how the industry works”.
“I thought all publicity was good publicity,” he added. Detrick’s post from Wednesday about the complaint has more than 90,000 views.
Detrick discovered the problem when he opened X on Wednesday and found a message that said his account had been locked. Thinking it was a hack, he tried on his laptop, which displayed the same message directing him to review X’s copyright policy. After doing so, he was back into his account within five minutes, he said.
He then received an email from X Legal Support, which said the chart in the April post had been taken down because of a DMCA takedown notice.
The email said he could seek a retraction from the person who filed the complaint, listed in the email as Denise McCool, the global chief data, AI and risk officer for research at Morgan Stanley according to her LinkedIn. The email associated with the complaint is brandprotection@mm-enforcements.com.
Detrick said he sent a message to the address but has not heard back. He said he is concerned about having his X account taken down permanently.
X’s copyright policy does not specify the exact behavior that would lead to an account suspension.
“If multiple copyright complaints are received about an account, or other evidence suggests a pattern of repeat infringement, X may suspend that account in accordance with our Repeat Infringer Policy,” the policy says. BLOOMBERG
