Stock market manipulations, social networks and misinformation. The “Gamestop Case” as a touchstone of the crime of art. 284.1.2º of the Penal Code

Abstract

This paper analyzes the GAMESTOP case, considered by some as a paradigm of information manipulation of financial markets carried out through the transmission of disinformation on social networks. Specifically, it tries to determinate whether the presentation of a similar case in our country would be criminally punishable by the crime of art. 284.1.2º of our Penal Code, establishing both the relevance that the use of social networks will have to appreciate the commission of this crime, and the requirements that allow lead to the criminal sanction of who disseminate false or misleading information using them, something that, contrary to what some maintain, cannot always be derived simply from the use of these media.