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GameStop (GME) stock trade restrictions on Robinhood app provoke review bombing [UPDATED]

As ongoing trade pushes GameStop stock values through the ceiling, Robinhood put restrictions on it and further stocks, provoking a wave of review bombing on the app.

TJ Denzer

January 28, 2021 12:17 PM

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UPDATED - January 28, 2021 @ 5:11 p.m. PT: Industry insider Rod "Slasher" Breslau has pointed out that Google has removed all of the negative reviews of Robinhood and has restored the 4.2 rating.

Google has now removed all of the reviews from today and restored Robinhood's 4.2 rating. boooo they deserve a 'did dumb shit' penalty pic.twitter.com/W3ph1sejMV

— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) January 29, 2021

UPDATED - January 28, 2021 @ 12:17 p.m. PT: On January 28, 2021, it was confirmed that a class-action lawsuit had been filed in the Southern District of New York United States District Court as shared by Fox Business's Lydia Moynihan. The lawsuit is against entities Robinhood Financial, Robinhood Securities, and Robinhood Markets with the restrictions on trading related to GameStop and other retail stocks at the heart of the filing.

BREAKING: Class action complaint against @RobinhoodApp filed in the southern district of NYhttps://t.co/DuGP3LIQDQ pic.twitter.com/mw82RRoA2L

— Lydia Moynihan (@LJMoynihan) January 28, 2021

Original Story: As of this writing, GameStop stock sits at around $300 a share, up an exponentially gargantuan amount from its single digit state even late in 2020. That all changed this month as a concentrated effort by Reddit and social media day traders pushed the stock value through the roof in a way that has both Wall Street and the US Government scrambling to curtail market manipulation. Now, popular trading app Robinhood has put restrictions on buying GameStop and other feasibly traded stocks in effort to stop the movement and, as a direct result, users flocked to the reviews system to one-star Robinhood’s rating into oblivion.

Robinhood made the decision to bar purchase of several stocks on January 28, 2021, as reported by CNBC. The stocks restricted included GameStop (GME), AMC Entertainment (AMC), BlackBerry (BB), and Koss (KOSS). Users, enraged by the news, flocked to review systems in mass and review bombed Robinhood for the decision, reducing its rating on Google Play to 1 star out of 5, as spotted by esports consultant Rod “Slasher” Breslau on Twitter.

Robinhood’s announcement did indeed have some effect on the GameStop stock. Where it reached a high of over $500 a share at one point, it started the day at around $290 on the news. Other factors, such as the WallStreetBets Discord shutdown and WallStreetBets Subreddit going private further impacted the stock price. The stock recovered a bit, but continues to be quite volatile as of trading today.

Nonetheless, it’s impossible to know where this ongoing movement ends or even slows. There are several prominent voices in the chatter banking on GameStop going as high as $1000 a share, but it remains to be seen if that happens. Stay tuned as we continue to follow this story for further news and updates.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.