Elon Musk says shorting is legal ‘only for vestigial reasons’

Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has said shorting is legal "only for vestigial reasons". The comment comes a day after retail investors caused a rally in video game retailer GameStop's shares.

The traders caused a surge in GameStop's share price, causing a short squeeze and hurting hedge funds who had shorted the stock.

Musk also put out another tweet that took a dig at "shorty apologists".

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

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 28, 2021