"The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (“OIEA”) is issuing this Investor Alert to warn investors about fraudsters who may attempt to manipulate share prices by using social media to spread false or misleading information about stocks."
"One way fraudsters may exploit social media is to engage in a market manipulation, such as spreading false and misleading information about a company to affect the stock’s share price. Wrongdoers may perpetuate stock rumors on social media, as well as on online bulletin boards and in Internet chat rooms.The false or misleading rumors may be positive or negative."