What can happen is someone can put a large block up for sale above the current price. People with Level 2 can see these shares for sale and this might prevent them from buying at that time. If the price moves up, the seller can then cancel their sale or move their sale price higher. Therefore they can create the illusion of selling pressure without selling many shares. However, if a buyer matches the quantities of shares for sale, the sale will go through. The seller can't choose who to sell to.

The effect of a large block for sale is debatable. I personally don't think it scares anyone out of shares, but others will disagree. Supply and demand for shares ultimately impacts the share price. We saw this with Stifel buying last year.

Aside from those fake asks, this stock is not very manipulated. The market cap is large enough that bashing is not effective. The share price is low enough that very few can short it. Also, the lack of options gives very little incentive to push the stock temporarily higher or lower. A lot of people here blame manipulation to cover for their lack of understanding of technical analysis. At the end of the day, it's the supply and demand for shares that moves the stock.