Plot thickens: the RobinHood app is owned by Citadel which just bought Melvin Capitol (or at least invested heavily in it) the very hedge fund the “every man” investor was targeting through Reddit and that very app...
Small correction (because words matter): Citadel is RobinHood’s largest investment partner per below. It seems to be owned by a number of VCs, but the point remains the same.
AND it’s even worse than I thought: the way RobinHood makes money is to sell data to Citadel. What kind of data you ask? Info about what trades the retail buyers are making BEFORE RobinHood processes them (and they go up) so Citadel can decide to get on gravy train too.
When hedge funds began getting targeted (they’re a hedge fund), they used their leverage to restrict RobinHood’s users from buying so-called “meme stocks” but not selling them... creating a panic and crushing the stock. Citadel profited on all sides of this (apparently).