Investment app Robinhood recently saw its rating on the Google Play Store plummet once again amid a flood of negative reviews by users. The app, which previously held an average rating of four stars with roughly 1,80,000 reviews, saw its overall rating fall to one-star with 2,75,000 reviews.
The flood of negative reviews for the app came after Robinhood blocked purchases of popular stocks from Reddit's/r/WallStreetBets like GameStop ($GME), AMC ($AMC), BlackBerry ($BB), Nokia ($NOK), and more. Google then proceeded to remove around 1,00,000 negative reviews on the platform, bringing the rating of the app back to an average of four stars.
However, this hasn't stopped the flood of negative reviews as Robinhood recently returned to a 1.1-star rating amid a flood of new reviews, taking app reviews to an all-time 305,000 high. Google told The Verge that it would be actively removing negative reviews of the app, which suggests that Robinhood could go back to its original rating.
It is worth noting that Google's Play Store policies explicitly ban reviews of an app that are intended to "manipulate the rating" of an app. However, Robinhood was not alone in its decision to stop accepting new trades, more traditional brokerages like Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade also restricted trading around GameStop and AMC.
For now, unprecedented trading activity is the only reason cited for the restricting trading around GameStop and AMC. However, WallStreetBets subreddit users banding together to drive up the stock prices of companies whose stocks were shorted by traditional hedge funds seems like an unprecedented move in the right direction.
American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib also condemned the move on Twitter, saying, "This is beyond absurd. @FSCDems need to have a hearing on Robinhood's market manipulation. They're blocking the ability to trade to protect Wall St. hedge funds, stealing millions of dollars from their users to protect people who've used the stock market as a casino for decades."
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote, "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. As a member of the Financial Services Cmte, I'd support a hearing if necessary."
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