Sec suggests bashers are paid. I believe some are
Post# of 40989
..will sometimes hire stock “bashers”, people paid to post negative articles on blogs and message boards. Their goal is to put out negative news on a company or its products in an effort to cause the company problems and insure the stock declines so their negative bets pay off. Others will put up “flash orders” advertising to sell a large number of shares in an effort to drive down the price.
https://www.sec.gov/comments/4-627/4627-95.pdf
https://www.sec.gov/oiea/investor-alerts-bull...umors.html
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