In a recent 60 Minutes interview, former Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen discussed the reports recently broken by the Wall Street Journal. Her research, and the resulting reporting, highlighted the social network’s negative mental health effects on teens, among other things. The latest Facebook whistleblower news was quick to have impact, as the week began with #DeleteFacebook trending on Twitter and FB stock plunging.
“There were conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook. And Facebook, over and over again, chose to optimize for its own interests, like making more money” Haugen stated.
Facebook Whistleblower 2021: What It Means for FB Stock
After a previous week spent mostly in the green, FB stock plunged this morning. As of this writing, it is down 5.49%.
It’s hardly surprising that social media would be buzzing this morning and that sentiment toward Facebook would be overwhelmingly negative. As of this writing, sentiment regarding Facebook stock is down on Stocktwits by 17.67% while message volume has increased by more than 34% since this morning.
Digital investment communities such as r/WallStreetBets are also having their say. Mentions of Facebook stock on the subreddit have increased by 4,875% in the past 24 hours. For the contrarian investors who strategize by betting against Wall Street, sentiment is mixed, but none of it is positive.
What’s the Word on Reddit?
For some investors, this downturn for FB stock represents a clear opportunity. They love to make money betting against Wall Street, especially when the companies they hate are experiencing turbulence. As the stock continues to decline, investors are asking the classic question of if they should buy on the dip.
Some investors are keen to do exactly that, acknowledging how much they dislike Facebook.
As one user notes, “I hate most of the companies I invest in, FB included, but they ain’t going away anytime soon.” The daily discussion post also featured the same user discussing a very bullish play, declaring, “Thinking I should sell everything and buy up as much FB as I humanly can.”
“[L]ook at FB [more] than 3 months out.. the dip is literally always bought,” says another.
Another user on investing subreddit r/Stocks adds: “Agree. However much I hate FB, I’m a buyer if it gets below 300.”
What It All Means
Today’s patterns indicate that further declines are certainly possible, and the message board buzz surround Facebook stock isn’t doing much to help it recover. We know all too well how much r/WSB investors and their contemporaries like to employ the vigilante mindset of profiting off the misdeeds of corporations. They’ll be watching keenly as the stock continues to fall to swoop in at the most opportune time.
A key takeaway from this should be that Facebook stock will rebound despite the “short term pain.” These investors know it or they wouldn’t be buying on the dip, they’d be selling off in masses as we saw from Amplify Energy (NYSE:AMPY) investors this morning.
As one Reddit user sums up: “About privacy, the vast majority of people have the mind set ‘I don’t have anything to hide’. I don’t think the privacy movement will materialize to anything as far as FB is concerned. This coming earning[s] report will be great and Wall [S]treet will forget about the recent negative news surrounding FB.”
The stock will rebound, it’s just a question of how far it can fall before it does.
On the date of publication, Samuel O’Brient did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
