Hashtag Trending November 14 – Eli Lilly Stock; Twitter goes back on payroll to confirm; FTX hack
Eli Lilly stock price succumbs to fake tweet, Twitter removes ticks from Twitter Blue, and FTX gets hacked.
It’s all the tech news that’s trending right now, welcome to Hashtag Trending. It’s Monday, November 14th, and I’m your host, Tom Li.
Eli Lilly, the pharmaceutical company that commercialized insulin nearly 100 years ago, saw its share price drop 4.5 percent when a Twitter user, posing as the company’s official account, falsely tweeted that insulin would be offered for free. The confusion came from, you guessed it, the check mark next to the account name, which was obtained by paying $8 a month. The account did not identify itself as a parody account, a new requirement introduced after Elon Musk took over the platform. In addition to Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi, two other major suppliers of insulin, also saw their share prices fall.
Source: Investors
The previous story was just one example of how impostor accounts are taking advantage of the confusion to post fake tweets, often impersonating a brand or public figure, including Elon Musk himself. This was clearly a problem for Twitter, which is probably why it removed the system. In a tweet, Musk condemned the fraudsters and said that it is not okay to deceive people. His retreat is in stark contrast to his previous stance, where he vehemently defended the system when faced with criticism.
Source: Ars Technica
Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse for doomed crypto exchange FTX, the company is now caught between a bankruptcy filing and a hack involving around $500 million. FTX filed for bankruptcy after it was unable to raise a $9 billion bailout. And since all customers are considered creditors, it will take a long time, possibly months, to find out who owes what, which doesn’t even include the collection process. The hack is just salt in the wound and no one seems to know how it happened. For many, FTX’s fall from grace remains unreal. At its peak, it was the world’s third largest crypto exchange.
Source: CNET
To find out how damaging the FTX fiasco has been, one hedge fund admitted that half of its capital is now stuck on the platform. Galois Capital co-founder Kevin Zhou apologized for the situation, warning that it could take a few years to recover a certain percentage of its assets. It’s not very reassuring, but the situation is almost completely out of their control.
Source: Financial Times
It’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash briefings or your daily briefing for Google Home. Be sure to sign up for our Daily IT Wire newsletter to get all the news that matters straight to your inbox every day. Also watch the next episode of Hashtag Tendances, our weekly Hashtag Trending episode in French, which comes every Thursday morning. If you have a suggestion or tip, drop us a line in the comments section or via email. Thanks for listening, I’m Tom Li.
