The fudsters have negligible impact on price. However, there are other benefits to the hedge funds and market makers, which are in some cases related entities. The market makers are clearly making a market while maintaining a net short position. Meaning when someone buys they are not getting shares from the mm’s inventory. The mm’s are shorting shares to fill demand. Thus, discouraging retail investors from buying means that the mm’s need to short fewer shares to cap the price/maintain the downtrend, which helps with their risk management.