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Zero Hedge

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Zero Hedge
ZeroHedge logo.svg
Motto: On a long enough timeline the survival rate for everyone drops to zero[a]
Type of site
  • Capital markets finance blog
  • News and political opinion
Available inEnglish
OwnerABC Media Limited (Bulgaria)[1]
Created byDaniel Ivandjiiski
Editor
URLzerohedge.com
CommercialYes (free content, paid advertising)
RegistrationOptional. Registration is required to post comments.
Launched9 January 2009; 12 years ago (2009-01-09)[2]
Current statusOnline

Zero Hedge (or ZeroHedge)[b] is a far-right[12] libertarian[17] financial blog,[13][14] presenting staff-written articles and aggregating news and opinions from external sources.[18] Zero Hedge, per its motto,[a] is bearish in its investment outlook and analysis, often deriving from its adherence to the Austrian School of economics and credit cycles.[22] While often labeled as a financial permabear,[23][24] Zero Hedge has also been described as a source of "cutting-edge news, rumors and gossip in the financial industry".[25]

Over time, Zero Hedge expanded into non-financial analysis,[c] including conspiracy theories and fringe rhetoric[27] associated with the US radical right,[14][28] the alt-right,[29][30][31] and a pro-Russian bias.[1][32][33][34] Zero Hedge's non-financial commentary has led to a number of site bans by various global social media platforms, although its 2019 Facebook ban[35][36] and 2020 Twitter ban were later reversed.[14][37]

Zero Hedge in-house content is posted under the pseudonym "Tyler Durden"; the founder and main editor was identified as Daniel Ivandjiiski.[26]

History and authorship

See also: Daniel Ivandjiiski

Zero Hedge's first post appeared on 9 January 2009 at 4pm,[38][2] and the domain was registered on 11 January 2009.[citation needed] According to the Boston Business Journal, the website "publishes financial news and opinion, aggregated and original" from a number of writers "who purportedly hail from within the financial industry."[39] Almost all in-house articles are signed under the collective pseudonym, "Tyler Durden", a character in the Chuck Palahniuk book and movie Fight Club.[39][2]

In September 2009, news reports identified Daniel Ivandjiiski, a Bulgarian-born, U.S.-educated,[d] former hedge-fund trader, who was barred from the securities industry in September 2008 for earning US$780 from an insider trade by FINRA,[40] as the founder of the site, and reported that "Tyler Durden" was a pseudonym for Ivandjiiski.[2][41] FINRA rulings show Ivandjiiski worked for 3 years at New York investment bank, Jefferies & Co.,[42] as well a number of hedge funds, the last of which was Wexford Capital LLC, a fund led by former Goldman Sachs traders.[43] One female site contributor, who spoke to New York magazine in an interview arranged by Ivandjiiski, said "up to 40" people could post under the "Tyler Durden" pseudonym.[2] The same New York magazine article, published on 27 September 2009, stated that Ivandjiiski's father was Krassimir Ivandjiiski,[2] a Bulgarian publisher and editor of the pro-Russian right-wing conspiracy theory website Strogo Sekretno ("Top Secret"),[1] and monthly publication Bulgarian Confidential, since 1994.[e][1]

The domain zerohedge.com is registered in Bulgaria to a company called ABC Media Ltd, managed by Krassimir Ivandjiiski.[1]

In a 29 April 2016 Bloomberg article "unmasking" Zero Hedge,[26] the authors writing as "Tyler Durden" were revealed as Ivandjiiski, then age 37, Tim Backshall, age 45 (a credit derivatives strategist),[45] and Colin Lokey, age 32 (a Seeking Alpha staff writer).[46] Lokey, the newest member, who joined in 2015, publicly revealed himself and the other two, when he left the site in April 2016.[47] Ivandjiiski confirmed the three men "had been the only Tyler Durdens on the payroll" since Lokey joined in 2015.[26] Lokey said he was paid $6,000 per month, and received a bonus of $50,000, earning over $100,000 in 2015.[26] According to Ivandjiiski, the blog generates revenue from online advertising (there is no subscription service).[26]

In March 2020, Bulgarian litigation between Krassimir Ivandjiiski and U.S. journalist Seth Hettena revealed further details about the Ivandjiiski family and the site's ownership.[1]

Site bans

On 12 March 2019, Bloomberg reported that Facebook had banned users from sharing Zero Hedge posts three days earlier.[35] MarketWatch, noting that Zero Hedge is a "frequent critic of Facebook", reported that the ban was lifted later that day with Facebook saying that the ban was a "mistake with our automation to detect spam".[36] Business Insider, describing Zero Hedge as "a favorite of City and Wall Street traders, known for its anti-establishment and bearish slant on financial topics", noted that Donald Trump Jr. and Nigel Farage raised objections to Facebook's censure of Zero Hedge.[48]

Australian telecom company Telstra temporarily denied access to Zero Hedge and other websites on 20 March 2019 as a result of the Christchurch mosque shootings.[49][50][51]

On 20 January 2020, Zero Hedge's Twitter account, which then had 670,000 followers, was "permanently suspended" from Twitter for violating their platform manipulation policy.[13][52] Bloomberg reported that Zero Hedge had been informed by Twitter that the suspension was as a result of an article titled: "Is This The Man Behind The Global Coronavirus Pandemic?", in which they doxed a Chinese virologist at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.[28][14][53] On 12 June 2020, Twitter reinstated the account after an appeal from Zero Hedge and stated that the suspension was an error.[37]

Zero Hedge was banned from the Google Ads platform on 17 June 2020. An email from Google to NBC said that Zero Hedge violated Google's content policy that "explicitly prohibit[s] derogatory content that promotes hatred, intolerance, violence or discrimination based on race from monetizing." The violating comments were found on stories related to George Floyd protests.[54][55] Google lifted the ban in July 2020, after the management of Zero Hedge began moderating comments.[56]

Zero Hedge revealed on June 17, 2020 that PayPal had, like Google, deplatformed the site,[57] and they would only be able to accept cryptocurrency payments in the future.[58]

Manifesto and views

At its creation in January 2009, Zero Hedge published a manifesto on the objectives of the site.[59]

Financial views

Recreation of a typical Zero Hedge chart from BIS data of G3 central bank balance sheets: FEB, ECB and BOJ
Recreation of a typical Zero Hedge chart from BIS and Bloomberg, showing the G3 central bank balance sheets: FEB, ECB and the BOJ versus the share price of Amazon (AMZN)
Recreation of a typical Zero Hedge chart from BIS and Bloomberg, showing the G3 central bank balance sheets: FEB, ECB and the BOJ versus the MSCI U.S. Stock Market

The most strongly held belief by Zero Hedge is in Austrian economics, and that economic cycles are really credit cycles, and that the quantitative easing ("QE") by global central banks is a temporary and artificial asset-price support scheme, that makes the credit cycle even more extreme; and hence the site's strongly bearish views.[f][22] As a result of this view, Zero Hedge supports assets that are outside of the central banking system, including precious metals and gold,[25][60] and even cryptocurrencies. The site is strongly against Keynesian economics,[61] and sees quantitative easing as a Keynesian "money printing trick",[62] and vilifies advocates of this approach, such as Paul Krugman in particular.[63][g] The site praises writers with similar views, such Albert Edwards and John Hussman.

Critics of Zero Hedge label the site a "permabear",[24] whose views missed the global recovery since 2013. Zero Hedge responds that the since 2013, global central banks have undertaken a continuous program of quantitative easing ("QE") (e.g. aggregate monthly easing has rarely dropped below the level of QE1 or QE2, see graphic opposite),[64] and when QE1 and QE2 ended, markets collapsed. The site references Japan, whose market set new lows after each round of QE, from 1994 to 2013,[65] and where the latest round of QE, started in 2013, has seen the BOJ become a dominant owner of the Nikkei 225.[66][67]

Zero Hedge maintains a number of financial views/theories which are considered conspiratorial, and/or hard-to-prove or unprovable;[68][23] notable views include:[h]

  1. Price manipulation by high-frequency trading ("HFT"). The belief that investment banks/funds use HFT/"dark pools" to manipulate prices;[i]
  2. Precious metals manipulation. The belief that investment banks manipulate precious metals prices to suit their derivative books;[j]
  3. Plunge-protection-team ("PPT"). The belief that central banks intervene in markets on a frequent, almost daily basis, to support prices;[k]
  4. U.S banks front running the U.S. FED. The belief that U.S. investment banks, most profitable of all global investment banks, have knowledge of PPT trades;[l]
  5. Market illiquidity. The belief that market liquidity, when HFT and PPT flows are taken out, is low, implying prices are artificial;[m]
  6. Chinese fraud. The belief that Chinese economic data is made-up, and that many Chinese companies are fraudulent (called "fraudcaps" by the site);[n]
  7. Manipulation of house prices. The belief that central bankers, Mark Carney as most typical,[o] use houses as stimulus, by loosening mortgage terms.[p]

A connected theme from the above views is that central banks have nationalized capital markets, that prices are artificial and do not reflect economic theory, that U.S. financial institutions have profited from this, and that the manipulation of asset prices has driven wealth inequality in society and built up financial risks (due to the leverage against these prices). Zero Hedge often shows the chart of G3 balance sheets versus Amazon's share price (see graphic), concluding that U.S. taxpayer's money has been used by the U.S. FED to make U.S. taxpayers unemployed.

Bearish macroeconomic views and conspiracy theories aside, Zero Hedge is noted as a source of detailed, but proprietary, research from Wall Street investment banks and institutions, on securities, which can be picked up by the financial media.[69][70][71] Sometimes, the research is about other investment banks.[72] It has also been a source of breaking news in the general capital markets industry.[73][25][74][75] In Zero Hedge's early years, it was associated with exposing the unknown world of High-frequency trading ("HFT"), and the HFT techniques that Zero Hedge claimed amounted to market manipulation.[25][76]

Zero Hedge is known for personalized attacks on specific finance professionals, examples being newsletter writer and commodity analyst Dennis Gartman (over 758 articles),[77] Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman (over 703 articles),[78] and fund manager Whitney Tilson (over 325 articles),[79] amongst others.

Non-financial views

While Zero Hedge's financial content is often referred to/quoted in the mainstream financial media (see above), its non-financial content has not been relied on by mainstream media.

The 29 April 2016 unmasking article by Bloomberg, quoted former website staffer Colin Lokey as saying: "I can't be a 24-hour cheerleader for Hezbollah, Moscow, Tehran, Beijing, and Trump anymore. It's wrong. Period. I know it gets you views now, but it will kill your brand over the long run. This isn't a revolution. It's a joke." Lokey told Bloomberg that he was pressured to frame issues in a way he felt was "disingenuous," summarizing its political stances as "Russia=good. Obama=idiot. Bashar al-Assad=benevolent leader. John Kerry=dunce. Vladimir Putin=greatest leader in the history of statecraft."[26] Lokey provided chat transcripts in which Ivandjiiski refers to America's "silent majority" as "beastly", while Backshall acknowledges life in the U.S. is bad "outside of my bubble".[26]

Wallace-Wells noted that the site demonstrated a pro-Russian bias, stating the site had a "pointed" Russophilia.[32]

In a series of articles in June–July 2017, the Financial Times, covering an event organised by one of the site's bloggers,[q] said that, "It probably didn't help that ZeroHedge was also used as a lead-in for a 2016 New Yorker piece about the alt-right, despite its financial focus and a political bent that is more Drudge than Richard Spencer."[33]

In January 2020, when the site was removed from Twitter, BuzzFeed News described Zero Hedge as "pro-Trump" and "far-right",[28] while reporting on the removal, The Washington Post said that Zero Hedge "In recent years, the blog has amplified right-wing conspiracy theories on a range of topics".[14]

In March 2020, American journalist Seth Hettena wrote an opinion-piece in The New Republic titled "Is Zero Hedge a Russian Trojan Horse?", and provided details on the links between Krassimir Ivandjiiski (the site publisher's Bulgarian father), and Soviet-era activities in propaganda, revealed during litigation initiated by the father against Hettena in the Bulgarian courts.[1] Hettena commented that Zero Hedge has become "a forum for the hateful, conspiracy-driven voices of the angry white men of the alt-right. Racists, anti-Semites, extreme right-wingers, and conspiracy nuts were an underserved audience, and, as it turns out, a profitable one."[1]

Reception

Launch to 2014

In August 2009, under the pseudonym Tyler Durden, Ivandjiiski was interviewed on Bloomberg Radio on HFT.[80][81] Following a series of pieces accusing Goldman Sachs of using high-frequency trading to profit via the New York Stock Exchange, Zero Hedge's readership grew rapidly.[82][41] In September 2009, journalist Joe Hagan wrote that Zero Hedge's founder was "a zealous believer in a sweeping conspiracy that casts the alumni of Goldman Sachs as a powerful cabal at the helm of U.S. policy."[2] In September and October 2009, Financial journalists Felix Salmon and Justin Fox characterized the site as conspiratorial.[83][41] However, Justin Fox, went on to describe Ivandjiiski as "a wonderfully persistent investigative reporter" and credited him for successfully turning high-frequency trading "into a big political issue," but also termed most of the writing on the website as "half-baked hooey," albeit with some "truth to be gleaned from it."[41]

In his book, Griftopia (2010), Matt Taibbi cited Zero Hedge as having accurately assessed the level of corruption in the banking industry.[84] In January 2011, Zero Hedge was quoted in the Columbia Journalism Review regarding a JPMorgan-Ambac lawsuit: "JPM committed fraud through misrepresentation, then wilfully and maliciously traded against the entities it had sold misrepresented securities to."[85] In March 2011, Time magazine ranked Zero Hedge as 9th, in its 25 Best Financial Blogs,[68] with nominator, Bloomberg's Paul Kedrosky, stating that "So while I don't read Zero Hedge regularly—it's too bearish, too conspiratorial and too much of an intellectual monoculture—I like knowing that it exists. Any time I'm feeling like things might just turn out O.K. on planet Economic Earth, I know where to turn to be disabused of that stupid idea." Susanne Craig of The New York Times described Zero Hedge in October 2011 as "a well-read and controversial financial blog."[86]

In December 2012, Bank of America, which had been criticized by the site in the past, blocked its employees' access to Zero Hedge from BOA servers.[39]

2014 to 2018

In September 2014, the site was described by CNN Money as offering a "deeply conspiratorial, anti-establishment and pessimistic view of the world."[23]

In November 2014, Dr. Craig Pirrong, Professor of Finance at the University of Houston, stated: "I have frequently written that Zero Hedge has the MO of a Soviet agitprop operation, that it reliably peddles Russian propaganda: my first post on this, almost exactly three years ago, noted the parallels between Zero Hedge and Russia Today."[87][88] In December 2013, Zero Hedge accused Dr. Pirrong of being a "paid-for-Professor", who had "made a living of collecting "expert academic" fees by simply signing off on [wall street] memoranda", quoting a New York Times expose by David Kocieniewski into Dr. Pirrong.[89][r]

In September 2015, Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman described Zero Hedge as a scaremongering outlet that promotes fears of hyperinflation and an "obviously ridiculous" form of "monetary permahawkery."[91] In November 2012, Krugman had noted that Bill McBride of Calculated Risk, an economics blog, has treated Zero Hedge with "appropriate contempt".[92] Krugman has been one of the most vilified individuals on Zero Hedge, and the subject of over 703 articles (almost all negative) since inception,[78] due to Krugman's advocacy of Keynesian economics.[g][63]

In April 2016, as part of its expose from the Colin Lokey interview, Unmasking the Men Behind Zero Hedge, Wall Street's Renegade Blog, Bloomberg Markets stated that since its founding in the middle of the financial crisis, "Zero Hedge has grown from a blog to an Internet powerhouse. Often distrustful of the 'establishment' and almost always bearish, it's known for a pessimistic worldview. Posts entitled 'Stocks Are In a Far More Precarious State Than Was Ever Truly Believed Possible' and 'America's Entitled (And Doomed) Upper Middle Class' are not uncommon."[26]

In a May 2016 follow-up Bloomberg opinion piece, Noah Smith said: "Zero Hedge has become known as a source of cutting-edge news, rumors and gossip about the financial industry, as well as a haven for gold bugs, foes of the Federal Reserve and critics of high-frequency trading"; and also that: "But I've realized that the website is also something else—a kind of support group for financial industry workers who are worried about their own economic future in the face of sweeping changes in technology, regulation and demand".[25]

Post–2018

On 20 November 2019, NBC News reported Zero Hedge as the initial source of a "misleading claim about the head of the Ukrainian energy company at the heart of the House impeachment inquiry", which went viral during the impeachment hearings. NBC said that "ZeroHedge apparently misconstrued the original Russian article from the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency, which did not mention an indictment. The Interfax-Ukraine News Agency operates as part of Interfax, a Russian news outlet".[34]

In January 2020, after Zero Hedge had been removed from Twitter, Business Insider reported that "In the years after the financial crash, the site had a bonafide social presence and a solidified place among financial insiders", and that "Since its rise to popularity among Wall Street insiders, Zero Hedge has since become known for sensationalist headlines and gruff take on the world's news".[19] Reporting on the affair, the Washington Post said that, "Zero Hedge launched in 2009, mostly featuring news and commentary about financial markets from a libertarian perspective. In recent years, the blog has amplified right-wing conspiracy theories on a range of topics".[14]

Litigation

GEROVA Financial

On 27 March 2012, Daniel Ivandjiiski was named as a co-conspirator in a civil complaint regarding a "complaint for damages and equitable relief".[93] The complainant, Noble Investments, who described themselves as a seed-investor in GEROVA Financial Group (NYSE: GFC), alleged that Dalrymple Finance had, with Zero Hedge and others,[s] engaged in a short and distort stock manipulation scheme, by publishing negative reports on GEROVA in January 2011.[94][95][96] The complaint stated that, amongst other charges, the defendants made damaging accusations that major shareholders, the Galanis family, and GEROVA senior executives, were involved in a "pump and dump" scheme; it also made ad hominem attacks on both Daniel Ivandjiiski, and his then alleged father, Krassimir Ivandjiiski.[t]

Dalrymple replied: "Writing research on quoted companies and distributing that research to financial media outlets, is neither illegal and is a daily legitimate activity on Wall Street". The complaint did not progress and there was no SEC investigation. GEROVA Financial's share collapsed in 2011, and never recovered.[citation needed] On 24 September 2015, the SEC charged a number of senior GEROVA executives and a few major investors in GEROVA with a "stock fraud scheme",[97][98] for which several, including the former company Chairman and President, Gary Hirst, received jail sentences in 2017.[99][100]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b The website's motto, "On a long enough timeline the survival rate for everyone drops to zero", is from the book and film Fight Club,[19][20] which is in turn a paraphrase of John Maynard Keynes who said "In the long run we are all dead".[21]
  2. ^ A search of the website shows that the website uses Zero Hedge, and ZeroHedge, and even zerohedge, and ZH, when referring to itself in articles.
  3. ^ Former Zero Hedge staff writer, Colin Lokey, on departing acrimoniously in April 2016, alleged to Bloomberg that Zero Hedge had become increasingly focused on non-financial material as a way to increase traffic on the site.[26]
  4. ^ Graduated from the American College in Sofia, Bulgaria (1997), and then moved to the U.S. and graduated from the University Of Pennsylvania in molecular biology.[2]
  5. ^ In the translated "About Us" page of Strogo Sekretno, Krassimir describes the publication as: "Above all, Top Secret is a national political newspaper. It is the only independent newspaper in Bulgaria, which is the only real alternative to manipulated mass media." The paper's website is at strogosekretno.com.[44]
  6. ^ Global central banks have, between them, maintained a continual level of QE since 2013, after the collapse of markets post the end of QE1 (March 2010) and QE2 (June 2011)
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b As a follower of Keynesian economics, Krugman advocates tools like quantitative easing to raise general asset prices and the living standards of society; however, as a follower of the Austrian School of economics, Zero Hedge believes that quantitative easing tools are artificial and their effects evaporate as soon as the tool is stopped (e.g. as happened at the end of QE1 and QE2), and thus the increased level of credit and leverage built up during the easing, poses serious risks to the economy and society.
  8. ^ It is not possible to list all such views expressed on Zero Hedge, nor is it possible to definitively rank the views; however, given that such views are acknowledged as an important part of the site, a considered list of major such views is provided
  9. ^ This was the original Zero Hedge theory that brought the site to prominence in 2009; the theory gained some support, and in particular from the Michael Lewis book, Flash Boys
  10. ^ As a believer in the Austrian School of economics and thus a strong supporter of precious metals ("PMs"), the site has often interpreted falls in the price of PMs as being market manipulation
  11. ^ The term "plunge protection team" generates thousands of article links on the Zero Hedge site; disclosures by the Bank of Japan regarding its very frequent ETF trading activities are used as support; also, seemingly irrational recoveries, such as Brexit, where the U.K. market hit a new high in the months post the shock, are seen as evidence of PPT by Zero Hedge
  12. ^ Zero Hedge has an even wider conspiracy theory around the connections between big U.S. investment banks and the FED; however the site's most used evidence is the fact that U.S. investment banks, during QE programs, rarely have days in the year where they lose money trading
  13. ^ Zero Hedge showed in 2009 that much of the headline volume in markets was really HFT (e.g. same share being sold back-and-forward many times per second), and thus illusory; the problem with this theory is that ETFs, the main tool asserted for PPT activity, do not have the same reporting requirements as individual securities (e.g. large PPT ETF trades are not itemised and sourced, as with fund manager 13F trades)
  14. ^ Zero Hedge frequently returns to this theme; cites various evidence including from ex. Fitch analyst, Charlene Chu and short-seller, Jim Chanos; also cites regular reports from Muddy Waters Research
  15. ^ Zero Hedge articles on Canadian Bank solvency, impaired by an assertion that Mark Carney was using central bank tools to inflate Canadian house prices, were covered in the main financial media; Zero Hedge has made the same assertion on Mark Carney's impact on U.K. house prices
  16. ^ A central theme of Zero Hedge, is that central banks are using techniques that increase the total indebtedness in society to generate growth, which, as an Austrian School follower, Zero Hedge believes will be temporary; and that the growth only exists while the "flow" of new credit is positive, but regardless of how large the "stock" of credit reaches, once the "flow" turns negative, prices will collapse. Zero Hedge points to housing as a key tool (as well as Student Loans and Auto Loans), and how, despite the fall in housing volumes, central banks have kept house prices rising by loosening mortgage terms, and "help-to-buy" schemes
  17. ^ The event was organised by Zero Hedge contributor, hedgeless_horseman, and it was not an official Zero Hedge function
  18. ^ Zero Hedge has run several articles on Dr. Craig Pirrong from 2013-2018, calling him the "world's favorite finance expert for Wall Street hire", in January 2016[90]
  19. ^ The complaint did not name Forbes as a co-conspirator but alleged that Forbes was the unsuspecting target of their actions
  20. ^ These attacks focused on their Bulgarian citizenship, and that Bulgaria was a global center of organized crime, cybercrime, and fraud, and that Krassimir Ivandjiiski has worked for the Bulgarian government during the Soviet-era.

References

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Hettena, Seth (9 March 2020). "Is Zero Hedge a Russian Trojan Horse?". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Joe Hagan (27 September 2009). "The Dow Zero Insurgency". New York. The nothing-can-be-believed chaos of the financial crisis created a golden opportunity for a blog run by a mysterious ex-hedge-funder with a dodgy past and conspiracy theories to burn
  3. ^ Krafft, P. M.; Donovan, Joan (3 March 2020). "Disinformation by Design: The Use of Evidence Collages and Platform Filtering in a Media Manipulation Campaign". Political Communication. Routledge. 37 (2): 194–214. doi:10.1080/10584609.2019.1686094. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  4. ^ Fraser, Adele-Momoko (16 June 2020). "Google bans website ZeroHedge from its ad platform over comments on protest articles". CNBC. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  5. ^ Durkee, Alison (17 June 2020). "Google and Facebook Are Cracking Down on the Far Right". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  6. ^ Basu, Kajal (22 June 2020). "Who 'Created' Covid?". Outlook. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  7. ^ "Republicans push back on Google restrictions". Special Report. 17 June 2020. Fox News. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  8. ^ Dickson, EJ (16 April 2020). "Anti-Vax Doctor Promotes Conspiracy Theory That Death Certificates Falsely Cite COVID-19". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  9. ^ Broderick, Ryan (22 April 2020). "Scientists Haven't Found Proof The Coronavirus Escaped From A Lab In Wuhan. Trump Supporters Are Spreading The Rumor Anyway". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  10. ^ Bellemare, Andrea (11 February 2020). "How social media platforms are fighting coronavirus misinformation". CBC.ca. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  11. ^ Sabalow, Ryan; Kasler, Dale (6 June 2018). "No, Californians, you won't be fined $1,000 if you shower and do laundry the same day". The Sacramento Bee. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  12. ^ [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b c Siraj Datoo (1 February 2020). "Zero Hedge Permanently Suspended From Twitter for 'Harassment'". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 1 February 2020. The libertarian financial website Zero Hedge was permanently suspended from Twitter on Friday after it published an article questioning the involvement of a Chinese scientist in the outbreak of the deadly novel coronavirus.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Derek Hawkins (1 February 2020). "Twitter bans Zero Hedge account after it doxxed a Chinese researcher over coronavirus". Washington Post. Retrieved 3 February 2020. Zero Hedge launched in 2009, mostly featuring news and commentary about financial markets from a libertarian perspective. In recent years, the blog has amplified right-wing conspiracy theories on a range of topics.
  15. ^ Datta, Saikat (5 February 2020). "The weaponized Wuhan virus that really wasn't". Asia Times. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  16. ^ McKay, Tom (25 June 2020). "Here's An Idea: The Trump Campaign Should Simply Take Over MySpace". Gizmodo UK. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  17. ^ [13][14][15][16]
  18. ^ Detrixhe, John. "JPMorgan has pulled ads from Zero Hedge that ended up there by accident". Quartz. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  19. ^ Jump up to: a b Cranley, Ellen (1 February 2020). "Finance blog Zero Hedge was banned from Twitter for Wuhan coronavirus misinformation. It's not the first time the publication has raised eyebrows". Business Insider. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  20. ^ "Fight Club Script". . 21 June 1998. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  21. ^ "John Maynard Keynes". Wikiquote. 1923. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  22. ^ Jump up to: a b Noah Smith (2 July 2014). "Austrian Economists, 9/11 Truthers and Brain Worms". Bloomberg Opinion.
  23. ^ Jump up to: a b c Egan, Matt (25 September 2014). "Zero Hedge: Wall Street's daily dose of doom and gloom". CNN Money.
  24. ^ Jump up to: a b "A Recovering Perma-Bear Opens Up About The 'Lunacy' Of The Camp He Once Belonged To". Business Insider. 14 January 2015.
  25. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Noah Smith (2 May 2016). "We are all Zero Hedge now". Bloomberg. Zero Hedge has become known as a source of cutting-edge news, rumors and gossip about the financial industry, as well as a haven for gold bugs, foes of the Federal Reserve and critics of high-frequency trading.
  26. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i Tracy Alloway; Luke Kawa (29 April 2016). "Unmasking the Men Behind Zero Hedge, Wall Street's Renegade Blog: The veil is lifted on a secretive website". Bloomberg News. Colin Lokey, also known as "Tyler Durden," is breaking the first rule of Fight Club: You do not talk about Fight Club. He’s also breaking the second rule of Fight Club. (See the first rule.)
  27. ^ Nguyen, Tina. "MAGA speech clashes with coronavirus misinformation crackdown". POLITICO. Retrieved 12 May 2020. Zero Hedge, a popular fringe website known for its conspiratorial posts
  28. ^ Jump up to: a b c Broderick, Ryan (31 January 2020). "A Pro-Trump Blog Doxed A Chinese Scientist It Falsely Accused Of Creating The Coronavirus As A Bioweapon". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  29. ^ Zhang, Chi (19 April 2018). "WeChatting American Politics: Misinformation, Polarization, and Immigrant Chinese Media". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  30. ^ Kreps, Sarah (26 June 2020). "The role of technology in online misinformation". Brookings Institution. p. 4. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  31. ^ Dornan, Christopher. "Science Disinformation in a Time of Pandemic". Public Policy Forum. p. 15. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  32. ^ Jump up to: a b Wallace-Wells, Benjamin (5 May 2016). "Is the Alt-Right for Real?". The New Yorker.
  33. ^ Jump up to: a b Alexandra Scaggs (27 June 2017). "A weekend in Texas with ZeroHedge readers, Part 1". Financial Times. It probably didn’t help that ZeroHedge was also used as a lead-in for a 2016 New Yorker piece about the alt-right, despite its financial focus and a political bent that is more Drudge than Richard Spencer.
  34. ^ Jump up to: a b Ben Collins; Brandy Zadrozny (20 November 2019). "As Sondland testified, a misleading Ukraine story spread among conservatives on social media". NBC News. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  35. ^ Jump up to: a b Tracy Alloway (12 March 2019). "Zero Hedge Says Facebook Banned Users From Sharing Its Posts". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 12 March 2019. Since being founded in the depths of the financial crisis, Zero Hedge has built a dedicated following by serving up a mix of hardcore financial analysis and populist political commentary.
  36. ^ Jump up to: a b Murphy, Mike (12 March 2019). "Facebook lifts ban on Zero Hedge articles after 'mistake'". MarketWatch. Retrieved 13 March 2019. Zero Hedge has a right-leaning, anti-establishment bent, and is a frequent Facebook critic. Some had speculated it had been caught up in Facebook’s ongoing efforts to root out “fake news” and misinformation or to silence a critical, conservative voice.
  37. ^ Jump up to: a b Bhalla, Aakriti; Venkat, Rama (13 June 2020). Holmes, David (ed.). "Twitter restores account of financial market website Zero Hedge". Reuters. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  38. ^ "Wall Street's diarrhea shi(f)ting to Park Street er... Avenue". Zero Hedge. 9 January 2009.
  39. ^ Jump up to: a b c Moore, Galen (19 December 2012). "Bank of America blocks employees from reading Zero Hedge blog". Boston Business Journal.
  40. ^ "FINRA Bars Two Registered Representatives for Insider Trading". Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. 11 September 2008. In May 2005, Ivandjiiski became employed by another firm, Miller Buckfire & Co. Nevertheless, before the financing deal for Hawaiian Holdings was announced, he obtained confidential documents that his former firm had prepared concerning the impending deal. On March 14, 2006, while in possession of that material, non-public information, Ivandjiiski bought 1000 shares of Hawaiian Holdings for $4.75 a share. On March 15th, when the new financing was publicly announced, the share price of Hawaiian Holdings increased 6%, to close at $5.30. On March 21, 2006, Ivandjiiski sold his 1,000 shares of Hawaiian Holdings stock for $5.53 per share, for a profit of $780. In settling these matters, neither Kelly nor Ivandjiiski admitted nor denied the charges, but consented to the entry of FINRA's findings
  41. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Fox, Justin (10 October 2009). "Wall Streeters like conspiracy theories. Always have". Time.
  42. ^ "BROKER CHECK: DANIEL KRASSIMIROV IVANDJIISKI CRD#: 4445294 BARRED". Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. FINRA has barred this individual from acting as a broker or otherwise associating with a broker-dealer firm.
  43. ^ "Wexford Capital makes two new hires". HFMWeek. September 2007. Wexford Capital has hired Daniel Ivandjiiski and Cesar Gonzalez
  44. ^ "About Us". Top Secret.
  45. ^ "Tim Backshall's Trading Ideas". Institutional Investor. 28 February 2008. Backshall, 36, who hails from the south of London, says he's "been working in and around the credit derivatives market since it started," first with Bankers Trust and Deutsche Bank, with tours of duty in London, New York and Tokyo, before joining MSCI-Barra, where he created that firm's credit offerings. Now, he brings his decade-plus experience in modeling and risk management to CDR at its Walnut Creek, Calif. Office.
  46. ^ "Colin Lokey (Poli Sci undergrad. MBA. Repo (market) man. Geopolitics junkie.)". Seeking Alpha. User 984857
  47. ^ Will Martin (29 April 2016). "The real identities of 'Tyler Durden' and Zero Hedge have been revealed". Business Insider.
  48. ^ Callum Burroughs (13 March 2019). "Facebook says Zero Hedge ban was a 'mistake' amid uproar over big tech censorship of conservative content". Business Insider. Retrieved 15 March 2019. A backlash from figures including the President's son, Donald Trump Jr., Paul Joseph Watson, and Nigel Farage sparked reactions related to civil liberties surrounding conservative voices on social media.
  49. ^ David Brennan (19 March 2019). "4chan, 8chan, LiveLeak and Others Blocked by Australian Internet Companies over Mosque Massacre Video". Newsweek. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  50. ^ "Telstra and Vodafone temporarily block websites after Christchurch attack". IT News. nextmedia. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  51. ^ "Arbitrary site blocks a 'slippery slope'". Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  52. ^ Kate Gibson (3 February 2020). "Twitter bans Zero Hedge after it posts coronavirus conspiracy theory". CBS News. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  53. ^ Aakriti Bhalla; Kanishka Singh (2 February 2020). "Financial market website Zero Hedge knocked off Twitter over coronavirus story". Reuters. Retrieved 2 February 2020. Zero Hedge, which covers mostly finance and economics, had more than 670,000 followers on Twitter as of its suspension.
  54. ^ Fraser, Adele-Momoko (16 June 2020). "Google bans website ZeroHedge from its ad platform over comments on protest articles". NBC News. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  55. ^ Hatmaker, Taylor (16 June 2020). "Google kicked ZeroHedge off its ad platform, put The Federalist on notice for racist protest content". TechCrunch. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  56. ^ Graham, Megan (14 July 2020). "Google says Zero Hedge can run Google ads again after removing 'derogatory' comments". CNBC. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  57. ^ "Status Update". Archived from the original on 18 June 2020.
  58. ^ "PayPal closed for Zero Hedge". Twitter. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  59. ^ "Zero Hedge Manifesto". Zero Hedge. 2009.
  60. ^ "Money is gold ... and nothing else". Zero Hedge. 5 May 2018.
  61. ^ "The Follies & Fallacies Of Keynesian Economics". Zero Hedge. 22 February 2016.
  62. ^ "Why Japan's Money Printing Madness Matters". Zero Hedge. 19 November 2014.
  63. ^ Jump up to: a b "Why Paul Krugman Is An Imbecile—or a Fraud". Zero Hedge. 9 July 2010.
  64. ^ "The Keynesian Cult Has Failed: "Emergency" Stimulus Is Now Permanent". Zero Hedge. 24 May 2017.
  65. ^ Jeffrey Snider (24 May 2015). "Japan's Broken Economy - 25 Years Of Failed "Stimulus" & "Temporary Illusions"". Zero Hedge.
  66. ^ Min Jeong Lee; Toshiro Hasegawa (3 April 2018). "The Bank of Japan Steps Up With Record Buys of Local Stocks". Bloomberg L.P.
  67. ^ "BOJ Is Now A Top-10 Shareholder In 40% Of All Japanese Companies; Owns 42% Of All Government Bonds". Zero Hedge. 27 June 2018.
  68. ^ Jump up to: a b Paul Kedrosky (11 March 2011). "The 25 Best Financial Blogs: 9 Zero Hedge".
  69. ^ "Goldman Sachs's Top 8 Disrupters". The Wall Street Journal. 9 August 2013. The website Zero Hedge got its hands on Goldman Sachs's report on the top 8 disruptive themes for investors to watch. Among them: 3-D printing and big data.
  70. ^ "The Finance 202: Trump buys Chinese line on tariffs". Washington Post. 11 April 2018. A Citigroup note to clients quoted by the finance blog Zero Hedge said a “careful read of the original text in Chinese reveals that the speech was more a reiteration of existing commitments rather than new major initiatives or concessions to Trump.”
  71. ^ Min Zing (11 April 2011). "Pimco Goes Negative on U.S. Debt". Mark Porterfield, Pimco's spokesman, didn't immediately respond to questions regarding the data. Financial blog Zero Hedge reported the data earlier on Sunday.
  72. ^ Mark Gongloff (23 September 2011). "Morgan Stanley: Banks Take on Zero Hedge". The Wall Street Journal.
  73. ^ Jasper Moiseiwitsch (26 December 2017). "Euro hit by sudden Christmas Day slide". Financial Times. The sell-off was first reported by markets-focused blog Zero Hedge, which attributed it to program-trading and low volumes.
  74. ^ Gregory Zuckerman (28 December 2015). "Zero Hedge reports Hedge Fund Firm Whitebox Closes Its Mutual Funds". The Wall Street Journal.
  75. ^ "ZERO HEDGE: High Frequency Trader Fined: 'Quote-Stuffing' Crackdown Afoot?". The Wall Street Journal. 13 September 2010.
  76. ^ Alan Abelson (13 July 2009). "What Has Sergey Wrought?". Barrons. We'd be remiss in not crediting Tyler Durden and his feisty Zero Hedge blog for early coverage of the Aleynikov affair and helping to make the dog days of summer a tad less doggy. We suspect the folks at Goldman may not concur, but think how dull life would be if everyone agreed.
  77. ^ "Search: Dennis Gartman". Zero Hedge.
  78. ^ Jump up to: a b "Search: Paul Krugman". Zero Hedge.
  79. ^ "Search: Whitney Tilson". Zero Hedge.
  80. ^ "Zero Hedge's Bloomberg Podcast: Why Did Bloomberg Delete It?". Seeking Alpha. 23 August 2009. Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge was on the program talking to Pimm about what High-Frequency Trading is, who the participants are and why it is or why it is not a good thing. I found Durden, who spoke with a slight accent, to be very knowledgeable about the topic and fairly even-handed in his analysis. ... But the podcast and any mention of Durden disappeared from Bloomberg's site
  81. ^ Tim Fox, Interview with "Tyler Durden" on Taking Stock[permanent dead link] (MP3) Bloomberg Radio. (20 August 2009). Retrieved 4 December 2011
  82. ^ "Why Did Financial Flamethrower Zero Hedge Go All in on Conspiracy Theories?". Institutional Investor. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  83. ^ Salmon, Felix (30 September 2009). "The Zero Hedgies". Reuters Blogs. Archived from the original on 3 October 2009.
  84. ^ Taibbi, Matt, Griftopia, New York: Spiegel & Grau (2010), p. 208 ISBN 978-0-385-52995-2
  85. ^ Ryan Chittum, Insurer Alleges Fraud by Bear Stearns and JPMorgan, Columbia Journalism Review (25 January 2011).
  86. ^ Craig, Susanne (4 October 2011). "Morgan Tries to Quell Rumors About Its Holdings", The New York Times.
  87. ^ Pirrong, Craig. How Do You Know That Zero Hedge is a Russian Information Operation? Here’s How, Streetwise Professor (20 November 2014)
  88. ^ Pirrong, Craig. Peas in a Pod: Occupy, RT, and Zero Hedge, Streetwise Professor (7 November 2011)
  89. ^ David Kocieniewski (27 December 2013). "Academics Who Defend Wall St. Reap Reward". New York Times. What Mr. Pirrong has routinely left out of most of his public pronouncements in favor of speculation is that he has reaped financial benefits from speculators and some of the largest players in the commodities business, The New York Times has found.
  90. ^ "Glencore's investment grade bonds". Zero Hedge. 18 January 2016.
  91. ^ Krugman, Paul (21 September 2015). "Nutcases and Knut Cases", The New York Times.
  92. ^ Krugman, Paul (21 November 2012). "All Hail Calculated Risk", The New York Times.
  93. ^ "SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK: NOBLE INVESTMENTS LIMITED vs. KEITH DALRYMPLE VICTORIA DALRYMPLE, DALRYMPLE FINANCE LLC, AND JOHN DOES 1 - 100" (PDF). 27 March 2012. p. 35. Daniel Ivandjiiski
  94. ^ Neil Weinberg (10 January 2011). "Gerova Financial Group An NYSE-listed Shell Game: Report".
  95. ^ "Allegations Of "Shell Game" Fraud Involving Gerova Financial Group (GFC)". Zero Hedge. 10 January 2011.
  96. ^ "Time For Chinese Fraudcaps To Exit Stage Left". Zero Hedge. 8 June 2011.
  97. ^ "SEC Charges Six in Stock Fraud Scheme". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 24 September 2015.
  98. ^ Antoine Gara (24 September 2015). "US Attorney Preet Bharara Indicts Masterminds Behind Gerova Financial Pump And Dump". Forbes.
  99. ^ "Father, son in Gerova stock scam get six years prison". Reuters. 16 February 2017. John Galanis, 73, and his son Derek, 44, were also ordered by U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel in Manhattan to forfeit $19.04 million, after pleading guilty last summer to securities fraud and conspiracy charges. The Galanises were also sentenced to three years of supervised release.
  100. ^ "Ex-Gerova chairman gets 6-1/2 years prison over stock scam". Reuters. 3 August 2017. Galanis was sentenced in February to 11-1/4 years in prison. His father and two brothers also received prison terms. One defendant remains at large.

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