Activist short sellers - entities that seek to “inform” market participants about hidden wrongdoings or shortcomings in publicly listed target firms (typically while taking a short position in the stock of the target firms) - have received increasing attention in recent years. At their best, they fulfill a valuable policing function, exposing legitimate fraud and improving market efficiency. At their worst, activist short sellers intentionally mislead investors (for example, through fake news and “short and distort” campaigns), creating inefficienci...