Reddit, GameStop Could be Ace up Moscow’s Sleeve?

The surprising calamity caused by retail traders is surely providing Moscow with another avenue for disrupting America’s way of life and business.

Stories about the latest stock-market volatility regarding Reddit users, GameStop and hedge funds have been visible on all hot and cold media. Who can resist a story about amateur little guys beating Wall Street behemoths in a fair competition? All the day traders did was to band together on Reddit to execute a classic short squeeze to nearly bankrupt a multibillion-dollar hedge fund.

However, this event has unexpected benefits for America’s adversaries and enemies, according to a story on Market Watch.

“But when the laughter subsides, a few serious policy questions emerge. And none of them are more important than the question of whether GameStop’s stock surge will open the door to malicious domestic and international actors trying to manipulate markets and destabilize the global financial system,” the financial website wrote.

Can America’s enemies seize the moment and multiply this example to undermine the United States and the world? Of course. Will they try? As sure as the crazies attacked the Capitol.

Moscow has certainly taken its position at the head of the line.

Market Watch reminded its readers: “In the run-up to the 2016 election, Russian operatives demonstrated how easy it was for a determined malign geopolitical force to use social media to manipulate American voters at scale; it is only a matter of time before a malign financial actor employs similar techniques to manipulate American investors at scale. Just imagine what the Russians, Chinese and Iranians are thinking of watching what’s happening with GameStop over the last week. A road map has just been laid out for the intentional mass manipulation of stock prices through targeted disinformation on social media.”

This possibility not only pertains to evil state actors like the KGB-FSB but also to a host of Russian oligarchs and gangsters that do the Kremlin’s bidding and have the resources to pay top ruble for the best hackers and web geniuses.

Market Watch noted that the recent crazy explosion of prices offers a convenient “how-to” guide for criminals on the use of social media to rig prices. The financial website pointed out that these criminals “are playing on fertile ground, softened by a decade of central bank liquidity, enormous fiscal stimulus, widespread access to sophisticated trading techniques, and woefully inadequate regulation. Unfortunately, Reddit’s anonymity makes it a tempting tool for those who might want to fuel illicit activity.”

Russia and other global criminals take advantage of so-called troll farms that typically “exacerbate political tensions in the US” but now “could easily be redirected to hype a particular stock on social media. With the added layer of ‘class warfare’ being ascribed to the GameStop situation, our adversaries can get a two-for-one shot.”

Extend your imagination outside the box. These troll farms can now be tasked to subvert any Internet-controlled municipal service such as power, hydro-electric dams, radar, nuclear facilities, skyscraper elevators, etc. Scary.

Market Watch continued: “Finally, the national security community should prioritize protecting our financial markets from disinformation the same way it focuses on protecting our elections. Russia’s social media campaigns designed to destabilize American society came after years of careful observation of the incentives created on social media, and have since been copied by malevolent actors both at home and abroad. In the days since the ‘GameStopGate’ story broke, it has been leveraged by extremists to radicalize and recruit over encrypted digital communication platforms. The main angle so far is inflaming anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about the financial world.

“Just think what the Kremlin learned this week about the opportunities to use similar techniques to undermine both democracy and democratic capitalism — and to potentially make a fortune in the process.”

Dictators from the Middle East to Moscow are gloating and rubbing their hands as they post classified ads for junior Internet and data specialists.

No rest for America’s security agencies.