Abacus | Robinhood shows social media should be feared by both the bad and good

2021 has been exciting and full of surprises, and it’s only the start of February! A huge dump of snow in Spain led to a severe shortage of out-of-season vegetables in Britain and even dropped flurries in the Sahara Desert; the retired shorts-clad rockers in AC/DC hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hard Rock Songwriters chart; and there has been astronomical inflation in the price of pedigree puppies in Britain leading to a severe shortage of stray dogs to adopt. So we’re not short on anything to talk about over a beer in the pub – if only we could.

Covid-19 has wrecked people’s social lives, and the mood among my friends and family, particularly in Britain and the United States, is one dominated by boredom. Even the gamers who are usually inseparable from their souped-up PCs and favourite online games are running out of patience. Having perfected their skills in popular combat games such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO) and spent hours glued to League of Legends competitions, they’re now back online with virtual arms fixed on a new target: the stock market.

This has led to the highly bizarre and potentially very dangerous practice of gamers messing with investment professionals, squeezing them until they choke on their shorts through free or low-cost trading platforms – the most notorious being the non-commission-paying “Robinhood”.