Digital News
Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly saw its stocks fall by 4.5% to 352.30 after a fake twitter account paid $8 to verify its account. The fake-but-verified account tweeted “we are excited to announce insulin is free now,” leading many to question the cost of Eli Lilly’s drugs and subsequently causing its valuation to fall.
Following the introduction of Elon Musk ’s Twitter Blue subscription option, where account owners are able to purchase a verification mark for only $8, many parody accounts have been causing chaos on the social media app. Twitter has long had a problem with sharing misinformation but this has only exacerbated the issue, with anyone able to make their tweets appear reputable at first glance.
Eli Lilly was forced to tweet a clarification from its real account, stating: “We apologize to those who have been served a misleading message from a fake Lilly account. Our official Twitter account is @LillyPad.”
Various other accounts commented on the Eli Lilly situation. Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders), stated: “Let’s be clear. Eli Lilly should apologize for increasing the price of insulin by over 1,200% since 1996 to $275 while it costs less than $10 to manufacture. The inventors of insulin sold their patents in 1923 for $1 to save lives, not to make Eli Lilly’s CEO obscenely rich.”
Rafael Shimunov (@rafaelshimunov) then added: “We regret to inform you that we will not be giving away insulin, a publicly funded invention that was given away by its creator to be given away to people so they don’t die.” He followed this with a second tweet, reading: “Eli Lilly stock isn’t just tanking because of a satirical Tweet on Musk ’s hellscape, it’s tanking because millions of people are asking why we have to pay for insulin, when it was made to be free. That’s why other insulin stocks are falling too. Happy Disability Awareness Month.”