Over the past week, as the stock tipper known as Roaring Kitty drove a rally in so-called meme stocks on Wall Street, Sydney hedge fund manager John Hempton was trolled, day after day, on X.

Normally, Hempton is the troll. But his $2 million short position in AMC, an American cinema chain, was getting smashed, and individual investors who see him as a part of a corrupt financial elite were celebrating.