4 ms·

Is the fake accounts thing overblown? Like, if I create a fake verified Eli Lilly account on Twitter with no followers, how would anyone even see it? It seems

Is the fake accounts thing overblown? Like, if I create a fake verified Eli Lilly account on Twitter with no followers, how would anyone even see it? It seems like it would only get picked up and shared by people in on the joke.

skyyler 4y ago
Isn't the move to have an established account with a couple thousand followers, then change profile pic and name and then do the $8 verify? I don't use twitter so I'm just assuming how this works.
- gruez 4y ago
  Wouldn't the username look off? eg. if you set up with an account with something like "@cutecatpics" as the username to get followers, wouldn't it look suspicious even if changed the name to "Eli Lilly"? It will look like Eli Lilly @cutecatpics You can try flipping this (legit looking username to start with), but it'll look suspicious when you're trying to rack up followers Cute cat pics @eli_lilly_official
  - drcongo 4y ago
    You can change your handle on Twitter.
  - nemothekid 4y ago
    Eli Lilly's official twitter handle was @LillyPad. The fake was @EliLillyandCo. The part about followers doesn't matter because the number of followers someone has doesn't show up in the feed, nor is it emphasized that boldly. Someone can just make a fake account, write a fake tweet, and the retweet that tweet onto their actual account.
    - iudqnolq 4y ago
      It's also completely plausible for a real, situationally important authority to have very few followers.
  - fragmede 4y ago
    hilariously the font that Twitter uses has capital-i look the same as lowercase-L, so when @AppIeOfCA tweeted as a verified account, it was really hard to distinguish from the real @AppleOfCA account. https://twitter.com/appleofca/status/1590898344242868227 https://twitter.com/appleofca/status/1590898344242868227 till it gets taken down.
ohgodplsno 4y ago
One of the perks of twitter blue is way, way increased visibility. Even fresh accounts with zero followers will be shown. Add in a few friends or hell 10 bucks to give your post an initial intake of likes and suddenly that just becomes 18 dollars that potentially cost Musk even more billions. I couldn't find a more enjoyable use of 20 bucks than putting this clown in more trouble
paxys 4y ago
Users would see it the same way they see everything else, but now the Tweet would have Eli Lilly's name, logo and a big blue "verified" check mark next to it. Yes they could do 3 seconds of diligence and check if the account is real or not, but if people actually did that then fake news wouldn't be a thing in the first place.
tablespoon 4y ago
> Is the fake accounts thing overblown? > Like, if I create a fake verified Eli Lilly account on Twitter with no followers, how would anyone even see it? It seems like it would only get picked up and shared by people in on the joke. People would share it. Think: troll + random thing going viral. The troll gets the ball rolling, and not all trolls would succeed at that, but some would and after the initial push the ball would keep rolling on its own.
jjulius 4y ago
>Is the fake accounts thing overblown? From the article: >By Friday morning, Lilly stock had dropped by more than 5% from the day before. The Twitter stunt pulled down the stock price of other diabetes drugmakers, including Novo Nordisk and Sanofi. Lilly’s stock has yet to recover and, on Monday morning, remained down more than 4% over the past five days. I'm not normally one to defend drug makers, but when you're talking about the loss of ~$15 billion in market cap[1], and then you factor in the fact that the company themselves was so frustrated by this that they walked away from their ad deal with Twitter, it all makes it hard for me to see how this is "overblown". [1]https://gizmodo.com/twitter-eli-lilly-elon-musk-insulin-1849779323 https://gizmodo.com/twitter-eli-lilly-elon-musk-insulin-1849...
- legitster 4y ago
  > The Twitter stunt pulled down the stock price of other diabetes drugmakers, including Novo Nordisk and Sanofi. It seems much, much more likely the stock loss was part of a larger market event than a specific Twitter stunt.
  - georgemcbay 4y ago
    I have no idea if the tweet was actually directly related to the price drop and lean toward being skeptical of it, but I don't think those other companies also dropping is great proof of that. Assuming the tweet was believed to be real (by enough of the right people to cause this sort of stock move), the expected outcome would be drops in those other companies as well, since Lilly giving insulin away (the tweet was: “We are excited to announce insulin is free now.”) would obviously cause a large impact on their ability to continue to sell it.
  - jerojero 4y ago
    I would guess it's not that simple. People's reaction are varied, this tweet actually resonates with people's beliefs much more strongly than what you might expect. For a lot of people, medicine that you need to continue living should be free. So I would say when this went viral, people at the very least go: "hmm...". Couple that with reactions from politicians and suddenly you find yourself in a situation where the price of insulin is once again being questioned. So imo, it's not just a funny tweet but more like a conversation starter and so it absolutely makes sense to me why this would be reflected in the stock price of insulin makers as a whole.
fknorangesite 4y ago
> It seems like it would only get picked up and shared by people in on the joke. If I have a significant following on my main/normal account, then I can create the fake one and then retweet it on main, thus showing it to all my regular followers. From there it just needs a little normal organic traction - and yes, that includes many people who immediately understand the joke and are RT'ing it because it's fake.

skyyler 4y ago

Isn't the move to have an established account with a couple thousand followers, then change profile pic and name and then do the $8 verify? I don't use twitter so I'm just assuming how this works.

gruez 4y ago
Wouldn't the username look off? eg. if you set up with an account with something like "@cutecatpics" as the username to get followers, wouldn't it look suspicious even if changed the name to "Eli Lilly"? It will look like Eli Lilly @cutecatpics You can try flipping this (legit looking username to start with), but it'll look suspicious when you're trying to rack up followers Cute cat pics @eli_lilly_official
- drcongo 4y ago
  You can change your handle on Twitter.
- nemothekid 4y ago
  Eli Lilly's official twitter handle was @LillyPad. The fake was @EliLillyandCo. The part about followers doesn't matter because the number of followers someone has doesn't show up in the feed, nor is it emphasized that boldly. Someone can just make a fake account, write a fake tweet, and the retweet that tweet onto their actual account.
  - iudqnolq 4y ago
    It's also completely plausible for a real, situationally important authority to have very few followers.
- fragmede 4y ago
  hilariously the font that Twitter uses has capital-i look the same as lowercase-L, so when @AppIeOfCA tweeted as a verified account, it was really hard to distinguish from the real @AppleOfCA account. https://twitter.com/appleofca/status/1590898344242868227 https://twitter.com/appleofca/status/1590898344242868227 till it gets taken down.

ohgodplsno 4y ago

One of the perks of twitter blue is way, way increased visibility. Even fresh accounts with zero followers will be shown. Add in a few friends or hell 10 bucks to give your post an initial intake of likes and suddenly that just becomes 18 dollars that potentially cost Musk even more billions. I couldn't find a more enjoyable use of 20 bucks than putting this clown in more trouble

paxys 4y ago

Users would see it the same way they see everything else, but now the Tweet would have Eli Lilly's name, logo and a big blue "verified" check mark next to it. Yes they could do 3 seconds of diligence and check if the account is real or not, but if people actually did that then fake news wouldn't be a thing in the first place.

tablespoon 4y ago

> Is the fake accounts thing overblown? > Like, if I create a fake verified Eli Lilly account on Twitter with no followers, how would anyone even see it? It seems like it would only get picked up and shared by people in on the joke. People would share it. Think: troll + random thing going viral. The troll gets the ball rolling, and not all trolls would succeed at that, but some would and after the initial push the ball would keep rolling on its own.

jjulius 4y ago

>Is the fake accounts thing overblown? From the article: >By Friday morning, Lilly stock had dropped by more than 5% from the day before. The Twitter stunt pulled down the stock price of other diabetes drugmakers, including Novo Nordisk and Sanofi. Lilly’s stock has yet to recover and, on Monday morning, remained down more than 4% over the past five days. I'm not normally one to defend drug makers, but when you're talking about the loss of ~$15 billion in market cap[1], and then you factor in the fact that the company themselves was so frustrated by this that they walked away from their ad deal with Twitter, it all makes it hard for me to see how this is "overblown". [1]https://gizmodo.com/twitter-eli-lilly-elon-musk-insulin-1849779323 https://gizmodo.com/twitter-eli-lilly-elon-musk-insulin-1849...

legitster 4y ago
> The Twitter stunt pulled down the stock price of other diabetes drugmakers, including Novo Nordisk and Sanofi. It seems much, much more likely the stock loss was part of a larger market event than a specific Twitter stunt.
- georgemcbay 4y ago
  I have no idea if the tweet was actually directly related to the price drop and lean toward being skeptical of it, but I don't think those other companies also dropping is great proof of that. Assuming the tweet was believed to be real (by enough of the right people to cause this sort of stock move), the expected outcome would be drops in those other companies as well, since Lilly giving insulin away (the tweet was: “We are excited to announce insulin is free now.”) would obviously cause a large impact on their ability to continue to sell it.
- jerojero 4y ago
  I would guess it's not that simple. People's reaction are varied, this tweet actually resonates with people's beliefs much more strongly than what you might expect. For a lot of people, medicine that you need to continue living should be free. So I would say when this went viral, people at the very least go: "hmm...". Couple that with reactions from politicians and suddenly you find yourself in a situation where the price of insulin is once again being questioned. So imo, it's not just a funny tweet but more like a conversation starter and so it absolutely makes sense to me why this would be reflected in the stock price of insulin makers as a whole.

fknorangesite 4y ago

> It seems like it would only get picked up and shared by people in on the joke. If I have a significant following on my main/normal account, then I can create the fake one and then retweet it on main, thus showing it to all my regular followers. From there it just needs a little normal organic traction - and yes, that includes many people who immediately understand the joke and are RT'ing it because it's fake.