A few days ago, GameStop’s stocks saw a rise from just about twenty dollars a share during the beginning of January this year to currently, three hundred and twenty-five dollars a share. This is mainly due to the subreddit, r/wallstreetbets, with over six million members where members post and discuss stock related subjects. Because GameStop is loved by many members of this community, people started posting to encourage people to buy into GameStop’s stocks in order to “rescue them” from short–sellers. In case you weren’t aware of what a short seller is, they are people who bet on stocks that will decline, and they earn money based on how much a stock declines, and if a stock rises, then they lose money. There were short-sellers who were upset over this rise, especially because these short sellers ended up losing $1.6 billion dollars in a single day. However, GameStop is not the only company to be “rescued” by the subreddit. In fact, AMC, the movie theater company, currently sits at $13.26 in stocks, and while it is not as much as GameStop, it still proves significant because they have allegedly been rescued from $600 million in debt. A user on the subreddit posted a picture of an article stating the news for AMC with the caption, “We did it, boys – we saved the movie theater industry from COVID so we can enjoy premieres together when it ends! Has anyone else also missed the theater experience?” Lastly, there was the online currency created in 2013 as a joke, Dogecoin rising 800% amidst this frenzy. 

In response to this, Robinhood and other stock trading companies have put a limit on how many stocks you can purchase for these companies that have seen a massive boost in their stock prices recently. In fact, if you use Robinhood to purchase your stocks and already have multiple shares in GameStop, you can sell them. However, you are unable to buy back into GameStop. This move has made many individuals very upset, with more anger directed towards Robinhood. Many are mad at Robinhood for this because they state that their mission is to “democratize finance for all” and allows users to purchase shares without having to go through a stockbroker. This move has made people all over the internet from different communities and with different views come together to criticize Robinhood, with the most shocking being Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump Jr., who all agree with each other on this. There was also YouTuber, Philip DeFranco, who has been sponsored by Robinhood in the past, vowing to never give them any sponsored spots in the future no matter how much money they offer him. Also, among YouTubers, Ethan Klien of H3H3, in a tweet asking why we are protecting hedge funds, adding, “They are parasitic money blackholes that provide NO value to society.” Lastly, there was Mia Khalifa, who tweeted, “English isn’t my first language, but this isn’t what I thought “free and open market” meant, Robinhood.” Also, among this, you had Robinhood users issuing lawsuits on the company. 

Sarah Larson is a Dakota Student Art and Community Writer. She can be reached at [email protected]