This news “blue” folks away on Thursday so to speak. That day, the Twitter account @EliLillyandCo posted, “We are excited to announce insulin is free now.” At the time, that account had one of those blue check marks next to its name suggesting that Twitter had already verified its authenticity as the real deal, the real Eli Lilly and Company. Free insulin sounds great to the seven million diabetes patients in America who are regularly prescribed insulin. After all, free is a pretty darn good price for a medication that has shot up in price over the past decade up to over $1000 per month for some who don’t have health insurance.

Well, the whole thing didn’t quite check out eventually. In fact, @EliLillyandCo is a fake Eli Lilly Twitter account. The real Eli Lilly and Company Twitter account, @LillyPad, tried to clear the air later that day because the pharmaceutical company wasn’t about to give away its product for free:

So how then did @EliLillyandCo get the blue check if it wasn’t the real deal? Well, since billionaire Elon Musk closed the $44 billion deal to acquire Twitter on October 28, there’s been some ch-ch-changes. Musk has fired most of the former leadership. He’s also laid off like half the Twitter work force because he could. Twitter Blue was launched on November 5th, and it changed their blue checkmark policy. You had to show proof of your legitimacy to receive a blue checkmark next to you name before. You or any other bot could now get a check with the Twitter blue service, provided you paid $8 per month. You could claim you are a Professor of Hot Dogs or PhD by using a blue tweet check to back up your claim. However, $8 per month would be required. If someone wants to claim they’re you and say they’re blue, the same applies. This is how you sell legitimacy.

Yeah, file that Musk-y decision under the didn’t quite think it through or didn’t think it blue category. A number of fake Twitter accounts obtained blue check marks soon after Twitter Blue. They used their blue to create havoc. One fake Lockheed Martin account claimed the company had stopped weapons sales in some countries. A second fake LeBron Jam account claimed the NBA star requested a trade deal from the Los Angeles Lakers. A Twitter account verified as former President George W. Bush, with handle @GeorgeWBushs, tweeted “I miss killing Iraqis”, along with a sadface emoticon. O.J. (or a fake O.J.) was next. Simpson’s @ThaReal0J32 account tweeted what seemed to be a confession. It was then deleted. This fake account used a “Tha” rather …read more

Source:: Social Media Explorer

Author: Aaron