A recent study suggests that bots on multiple social media platforms attempted to drive up GameStop’s stock by posting memes encouraging people to buy shares.

GameStop’s stocks soared to record-breaking heights at the end of January when a group of investors from the r/WallStreetBets subreddit organized to squeeze the hedge funds that were betting against the company. The incident stoked fear over the stability of the stock market and sparked an ongoing investigation by congress. Analysts have theorized that the unprecedented surge was caused by a number of factors, including a shakeup of GameStop’s Board of Directors and resentment of exploitative Wall Street stock traders.

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Now, a recent analysis by Massachusetts-based cyber-security company PiiQ Media suggests that bots may have also played a role. The study examined patterns of keywords such as “GME,” GameStop’s stock symbol, and “Hold the Line,” a slogan that became popular among the Reddit investors who were driving up GameStop’s shares, across multiple social media sites. PiiQ said it found daily “start and stop patterns,” with activity beginning when the stock market opened and then spiking when it closed. Aaron Barr, co-founder and chief technology officer of PiiQ, said these patterns indicate the presence of bots.

“We saw clear patterns of artificial behavior across the other four social media platforms. When you think of organic content, it’s variable in the day, variable day-to-day. It doesn’t have the exact same pattern every day for a month.”

PiiQ estimates that there were tens of thousands of bots across multiple social media platforms that pushed memes about GameStop’s stock between January 28 and February 18. The bots also reportedly hyped other “memestocks” such as AMC and Nokia, as well as the cryptocurrency Dogecoin. PiiQ did not include Reddit in its study, but Barr expects that bots were similarly active on the site. This contradicts Reddit Chief Executive Steve Huffman’s testimony to congress in February that bots did not play a significant role GameStop Reddit message board traffic.

It is unclear how much the bot activity affected the GameStop surge. Barr said that organized criminals and hostile state actors may utilize bots and social media to undermine the integrity of the stock market. PiiQ notes that thousands of bot accounts can be purchased with as little as $200. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (FEC) and the Department of Justice are currently investigating the GameStop saga.

GameStop’s stock surged again last week, albeit not to the heights that it reached in January. The spike followed an announcement that GameStop’s chief financial officer would resign at the end of March, signaling a new direction for the company. On February 26, the FEC suspended trading in 15 companies after unusual trading activity stoked fear of market volatility.

MORE: GameStop CFO Jim Bell Has Resigned

Source: Reuters