Reporting short positions isn't "enforced" by either the ASX or ASIC.
So whatever figures are or aren't given to indicate "no increase" "a steady increase" "a strong drop" or whatever, are just further tools for them to manipulate market perception, really...
Hard to figure out how the game is being played, when the participants don't "need" to follow any rules and the the so called "umpires" are on a perpetual coffee break, stuffing donuts and other "objects" down their throats.
This is one of the reasons why I advise young or new investors here not to buy ASX shares if they do not have experience.
To be honest, if I'd had my experience back then and had known apart from this issue above that the pensions of an entire state was attached to it and that it was a completely different playing field to what we're used to here in Europe, then I would never have seriously invested at the ASX.
I was warned to invest in South Korea

I can only smile. They have a handle on the economic damage of shorting.
I don't even want to know how much the Chinese control your stock market in the background.
I don't care about that now. I have made my choice for StartUps and will finish reading my novels.
The ASX seems to me to be the opposite of a transparent stock exchange where I personally would want to see my pension.
But I don't want to be provocative and have little idea what it's really like. Just a naive view from the other side of the world.
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Essentially I have four ASX start-ups. Three have a tec or resource that stinks China.
The fourth has fallen to 0.23% shorts (ASN). Not only are they largely owned by a Chinese investor, but one of their tecs is Chinese IP and this in the heart of the USA.)
Without ulterior motives... LoL
It's just that as a foreigner I can't see how your policies are protecting your stock market or pensions.