Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Elon Musk, hater of short sellers, weighs in on AOC's Robinhood stance

Elon Musk, hater of short sellers, weighs in on AOC's Robinhood stance

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a tweet Thursday that he "absolutely" supports Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's call for the House Financial Services Committee to launch an investigation into Robinhood for its stock trade restrictions. 

Robinhood's move prevents investors from initiating new positions in shares of GameStop, AMC Entertainment Holdings, American Airlines, BlackBerry Ltd., Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., Express Inc., Koss Corp., Naked Brand Group, Nokia Corp, Trivago, and Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc. and will only allow them to sell existing holdings. The company also raised margin requirements for certain securities.


"This is unacceptable. We now need to know more about @RobinhoodApp’s decision to block retail investors from purchasing stock while hedge funds are freely able to trade the stock as they see fit," Ocasio-Cortez wrote.

The second-term congresswoman added, " As a member of the Financial Services Cmte, I’d support a hearing if necessary."

The market chaos started after a group of Reddit users on a speculative investing discussion forum called WallStreetBets banded together to buy up GameStop's call options earlier this week, causing the struggling retailer's shares to soar to unprecedented levels and hurting market short-sellers.

The market gyrations spurred by GameStop stock have since prompted the TD Ameritrade and Charles Schwab's mobile apps to experience outages during Wednesday's trading session in response to "unprecedented volumes." The moves caught the attention of the White House, Treasury and SEC which all announced they would be monitoring the situation.

Among the people cheering the emboldened Reddit users on is Musk himself, who tweeted "Gamestonk!" on Tuesday in an effort to add fuel to the fire.


Musk, a hater of short sellers, has previously battled it out with investors who chose to bet against Tesla. In December 2019, Musk called for short selling to be deemed an "illegal" activity.


In a series of separate tweets on Thursday, Musk reiterated his animosity of short selling, writing "u can’t sell houses u don’t own u can’t sell cars u don’t own but u *can* sell stock u don’t own!? this is bs – shorting is a scam legal only for vestigial reasons." He also called for his followers to give so-called shorty apologists "no respect."

"Get shorty," he added.

The latest taunting towards short sellers comes after Musk sold limited edition short shorts on Tesla's website after its stock hit a record high in July.

Ocasio-Cortez added on Thursday that "inquiries into freezes should not be limited solely to Robinhood."


"This is a serious matter," she posted, "Committee investigators should examine any retail services freezing stock purchases in the course of potential investigations, especially those allowing sales, but freezing purchases."

Other brokers that also have restricted trading include TD Ameritrade and Interactive Brokers.


Ocasio-Cortez plans to hop on Twitch on Thursday evening, where she will "discuss today's developemnts with GameStop and retail trading."

In addition to calls for an investigation into Robinhood, one user has filed a class action lawsuit against the app Thursday for "purposefully, willingly, and knowingly removing the stock GME from its trading platform in the midst of an unprecedented stock rise."



GameStop shares have soared 1,642% from Jan. 12 through Wednesday, while AMC Entertainment and BlackBerry gained 769% and 229%, respectively. The other names have also seen outsized gains.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×