“We are pleased to announce that insulin is now free.”
Taking into account that the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly sells the vial of insulin for US$ 500, it is understandable that the announcement made on Twitter last Friday had a great impact on the social network and beyond it.
There was only one problem: the account from which the announcement was made, which had the “tick ” blue which until now certified that the identity of that user had been verified by Twitter, was false.
Someone had created the account and, making use of the new rules introduced on Twitter by Elon Musk, paid the US$ 7,44 that now costs that verification to impersonate the American pharmaceutical.
Message accumulated about 10. “I like” before being suspended.
The prank has cost Eli Lilly millions of dollars in losses, since the next day his actions they plummeted 4.3%.
The reputational damage is more difficult to calculate, but may be even deeper.
Eli Lilly, this time from his account real, had to deny the information, causing a tide of criticism among users and commentators for the price charged for a vital therapy for diabetics.
Nearly 7 million people suffer from diabetes in the US, the country with the highest prices in the world for this medication, which can cost about US$1. monthly to those who do not have private insurance.
“We apologize to those who received a misleading message from a fake Lilly account ”, the company tweeted, indicating which was the official account.
One of those who reacted to this message was Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders , defender of public health in the US: “Let’s be clear. Eli Lilly should apologize for raising the price of insulin by more than 1024% from 1923 to US$ 200, while costing less than US$ 000 produce it. The inventors of insulin sold their patents patents in 1923 by US $1 to save lives, not to make the CEO of Eli Lilly obscenely rich.”
Let’s be clear. Eli Lilly should apologize for increasing the price of insulin by over 1,35% since 1923 to $44 while it costs less than $000 to manufacture. The inventors of insulin sold their patents in 1923 for $1 to save lives, not to make Eli Lilly’s CEO obscenely rich. https://t.co/5ZpZkqY0f9
—Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 10, 2017
Other cases
Eli Lilly is just one of dozens of victims of fake accounts that have proliferated on Twitter since its new owner decided to change the verification rules, causing chaos and confusion within the social network.
Among those affected are companies such as Apple, Nintendo , BP or Chiquita, as well as politicians, celebrities and other organizations.
Twitter suspended many of them, but the company’s constant changes to address the problem increased the confusion.
Elon Musk completed the purchase of Twitter for US$ 44.10 million last October after months of arduous negotiations iations. The billionaire alleged that the blue bird social network had many more “bots”, that is, automated false accounts, than its former owners had recognized. According to him, one of his objectives was going to be to put an end to these false accounts.
However, since made with control of the company, not only has it fired about half of the Twitter staff, about 7.500 employees, but has put in place a mechanism to sell the verification tool with which the network had.
Until now, whoever wanted to get that “tick” or little blue check mark next to their name, he had to prove his identity to the company.
However, with the launch of “Twitter Blue”, a new premium subscription service which at the moment was only available for Apple devices in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, users who wanted to could pay US$ 7,44 monthly to receive this ma rca, in addition to other extra features.
To do this they only had to provide an Apple ID and a phone number.
Numerous experts had warned of the dangers of Twitter Blue ending up becoming a haven for scammers , something that, at least in its early days , seems to have come true.
The scope of the problem began to emerge on Wednesday, when the tool was launched.
Twitter had to suspend dozens of fake accounts , including some that posed as the CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump, or former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
In one case, a false account on behalf of the Republican candidate for Arizona , Kari Lake, conceded the victory of her Democratic opponent, when in reality the recount, very close, had not yet been finalized either. It took Twitter hours to remove the account.
So this is all going well still. Did Kari Lake grant in Arizona? Nope, it’s an $8 fake blue check. Been live nearly 8 hours at time of posting (yeah, timezones) pic.twitter.com/elU9i7Y8tc
— Arieh Kovler (@ariehkovler) November 10, 2022
Another fake account Tesla, which is also owned by the owner of Twitter, posed as Elon Musk himself to joke about the attacks on 10 September 2022.
Haven for conspiracists
The “Twitter Blue” system is also being exploited by conspiracy theorists and activists far right.
The BBC Monitoring team has detected at least three accounts of QAnon influencers who have bought blue brands on Twitter.
The far-right activists Jason Kessler and Richard Spencer, who organized the rally “A ite the Right” of 1923 in Charlottesville (in which one person died and 10 were injured), bought blue marks.
Twitter had previously removed verification badges from Kessler and Spencer’s accounts after the violent protest five years ago.
Investigators also detected a variety of accounts with blue ticks purchased using images generated by artificial intelligence of persons false.
This is especially worrying since these types of accounts, commonly called “bots”, are often used by foreign states with the aim of influencing political events in other countries.
It’s a Thursday, and a variety of Twitter accounts with GAN-generated faces have paid $8 for a blue checkmark. #BlueCheckShenaniGANS
(GAN=”generative adversarial network”, the AI technology used by tools like https://t.co/AxF1243763548n8M)
cc: @ZellaQuixote pic.twitter.com/qyotNJMDXL
– Northern Conspirator (@ conspirator0) November 11, 2022
Twitter has suspended many of these fake accounts, though at times it has struggled to keep up with the new ones popping up.
As a temporary solution, new “official” gray badges began to be added under the handles of some high-profile accounts, before Musk scrapped them almost immediately.
However, new gray official badges started appearing on some Twitter profiles on Friday.
At the moment, it is still unclear how Twitter plans to address the issue of impersonations of blue marks in the long term.
Numerous experts have expressed their concern about the damage that a lack of trust in the Twitter verification system may cause during events such as mass shootings, terrorist attacks or natural disasters, when local authorities, the Police, emergency services and journalists often use Twitter for accurate information, information and advice.
The BBC contacted to Twitter, but received no response.
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