Eli Lilly Stock collapses after parody Twitter account says insulin is now free

The disastrous deployment of Blue by Elon Musk has caused a slew of miscommunications between users and trolls, with fake news and information inadvertently going viral after users quickly saw blue checkmarks and assumed what they read was from a legitimate site. sources.

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While much of the banter was a good joke, one company is feeling the very real implications of the viral spread of misinformation.

Shares of Eli Lilly and Company fell on Thursday after an account impersonating the pharmaceutical company claimed insulin would now be free in the United States.

Screenshot via Twitter

Eli Lilly was down just over 4% in a 24-hour period Friday afternoon and 20 points in early trading Friday morning.

The account, which used the handle @EliLillyandCo, had the same username and profile picture as the official Eli Lilly and Co account which uses the handle @LillyPad.

Both had blue checkmarks, except the fake account purchased its symbol after subscribing to Twitter Blue, making it legit for quick surfers on the site.

Eli Lilly responded from his official account on Thursday evening apologizing for the confusion.

The pharma company's fake branding has been one of many over the past 24 hours, with troll accounts impersonating companies across multiple industries wreaking havoc on the site.< /p>

The fake account has now been suspended.

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