Fight The Man: What GameStop’s surge says about online mobs


The Reddit-based investors used the chat platform Discord to fire each other up and the trading app Robinhood to buy shares with a few clicks on their smartphones. They soon found a shared enemy in hedge fund managers who tried to short the stock, encouraging each other to keep buying GameStop and push it ever higher – ‘to the moon’. — Bloomberg

It’s a fable for our times: Small-time investors band together to take down greedy Wall Street hedge funds using the stock of a troubled video-game store.

But the revolt of online stock-traders suggests much more. The Internet is shifting society’s balance of power in unanticipated ways. And the same tools that empower the little guy – allowing people to organise quickly and seemingly out of nowhere, troll powerful institutions and unleash chaos – can also give rise to extremist mobs waging harassment campaigns or the Jan 6 riot at the Capitol.

Subscribe or renew your subscriptions to win prizes worth up to RM68,000!

Monthly Plan

RM13.90/month

Annual Plan

RM12.33/month

Billed as RM148.00/year

1 month

Free Trial

For new subscribers only


Cancel anytime. No ads. Auto-renewal. Unlimited access to the web and app. Personalised features. Members rewards.
Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!

Gamestop , Wall Street

   

Next In Tech News

Sirius XM found liable in New York lawsuit over subscription cancellations
US Supreme Court tosses case involving securities fraud suit against Facebook
Amazon doubles down on AI startup Anthropic with $4 billion investment
Factbox-Who are bankrupt Northvolt's creditors?
UK should use new powers to probe Apple-Google mobile browser duopoly, report says
EU regulators scrap probe into Apple's e-book rules after complaint was withdrawn
Hyundai recalls over 145,000 electrified US vehicles on loss of drive power
'World of Warcraft' still going strong as it celebrates 20 years
Northvolt CEO steps down, saying group needs up to $1.2 billion
Bitcoin at record highs, sets sights on $100,000

Others Also Read