Growing use of automated bots to promote stocks on social media contributing to market volatility, experts say

Growing use of automated bots to promote stocks on social media contributing to market volatility, experts say

One of the first things cybersecurity researcher Aaron Barr noticed in his analysis of the recent trading frenzy involving stocks mentioned on the Reddit channel WallStreetBets was the pace and frequency at which promotional posts propping up these stocks were flooding other social media platforms.

The timing of posts about stocks such as GameStop, observed Mr. Barr, the co-founder and chief technology officer of PiiQ Media, a cybersecurity intelligence firm based out of Boston, was too structured to be organic, he realized. For example, posts appeared exactly on the hour at the start of the trading day and again before the end of the trading day.

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