3 ms·

How exactly is WSB controversial from a legal point of view?

• user-the-name 6y ago
  Stock market manipulation.
  • deadbunny 6y ago
    Except everything they are doing is perfectly legal. They noticed some people had overextended their short position, they took action (action that "legitimate" traders were also taking) and stand to make some money. I don't see how that is market manipulation any more than short sellers shorting over 100% of a stock. Maybe there is an argument for regulation to prevent this but the financial sector has been staunchly against any such regulation for decades.
    • user-the-name 6y ago
      It might be. But it is also dangerously close to market manipulation. Thus, it is "controversial". That is the question I was answering.
• marvin 6y ago
  Maybe I was imprecise to use the term legal. By definition, WSB is controversial because a lot of powerful people criticise them and would prefer them not to exist. Legally, I can see that they're moving in an uncharted gray area that might eventually require lawyers and a judge to determine whether they did something illegal, or that eventually attracts lawmakers to adapt existing regulation. I'm firmly on the side of WSB here though, and none of the above should be considered a moral rationale for its pre-emptive censorship. Controversial certainly doesn't mean wrong, of which one might have the impression after the last months of social media purges. I'm not at all surprised that WSB becomes the focus of such a power struggle, and very much hope it becomes another catalyst towards de-centralized, censorship-proof online communities.