negate all enforcement action from state regulators, which could still pursue some claims against the company. 2021 short squeeze On January 28, 2021, Robinhood and other retail brokers, including Webull, restricted the trading of certain stocks following an effort by users of r/wallstreetbets subreddit to drive up their price. Robinhood restricted trading in these stocks in order to meet collateral requirements at their clearinghouse, the National Securities Clearing Corporation. This decision attracted condemnation from internet users on the subreddit and on Twitter, as well as politicians. The House Committee on Financial Services questioned Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev during a hearing on February 18, 2021. Following the controversy, the app suffered an influx of one-star reviews on the Google Play app store. Google deleted at least 100,000 such reviews, calling them "coordinated or inorganic". However, after another round of negative reviews on the app dropping it to a 1.1-star rating, Google confirmed that the new reviews do not violate Google policies and will not be removed. Protesters also showed up outside Robinhood headquarters in Menlo Park, California, at the Securities and Exchange Commission headquarters in Washington, D.C., and the New York Stock Exchange. On January 28, a class-action lawsuit against Robinhood for alleged market manipulation was filed in the Southern District of New York. The lawsuit alleges that the app “purposefully, willfully, and knowingly removing the stock ‘GME’ from its trading platform in the midst of an unprecedented stock rise [...] deprived retail investors of the ability to invest in the open-market and manipulating the open-market.” Later that day, the company announced that it would reallow limited buys of the stocks on January 29. References External links 2013 establishments in California American companies established in 2013 2021 initial public offerings Companies based in Menlo Park, California Financial services companies based in California Financial services companies established in 2013 Online brokerages Online financial services companies of the United States Companies listed on the Nasdaq