Elon Musk's pay-for-play Twitter sows chaos as fake Eli Lilly account proclaims insulin is free
11 Nov 2022
Executive ChangeAcquisition
Elon Musk’s plan to overhaul Twitter’s verification system roiled the social media site Thursday, with dozens of politicians, celebrities and brands becoming prime targets for impersonation. Chief among those targets was pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly.
A little after 1:30 pm Eastern time Thursday, a fake Lilly Twitter account posted a message pretending the company had made insulin completely free. The account, which paid for Twitter’s hallmark blue checkmark through Musk’s new $8 per month subscription service, spawned a litany of other impersonators across the site, most of which posted crude or politically sensitive messages.
A fake account is impersonating the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company: "We are excited to announce insulin is free now." pic.twitter.com/OldmyzIqIp
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) November 10, 2022
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Source: Endpts
Tarsis Lopez
Eli Lilly is one of three Big Pharma companies — in addition to Novo Nordisk and Sanofi — that collectively make up about 90% of the world’s insulin drug market. In the US, where generic insulin is not approved, the trio makes up 100% of the market. Through the first nine months of 2022, Lilly’s insulin products (Humalog/Lispro, Humulin and Basaglar) tallied more than $2.85 billion in sales.
Insulin has become a political football over the years, with Democrats and some Republicans criticizing Lilly for high prices and pointing to lower costs overseas and in Canada. Both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump presented plans to cap insulin at $35, with Biden’s Congress approving the cap as part of Medicare reforms within the Inflation Reduction Act.
Out-of-pocket cap will increase the net price of insulin, CBO tells Senate bill sponsors
Following the Lilly impersonators’ lead, fake accounts proliferated across Twitter throughout Thursday afternoon and into the late night hours. Each used the new pay-for-play verification service, implemented by Musk this week after he completed his hostile takeover in late October, to spread misleading messages.
Few hot button subjects were spared. Biden, former President George W. Bush, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and ex-British prime minister Tony Blair all saw fake-but-verified messages posted in their names. As did Lockheed Martin, Chiquita bananas, American Girl dolls and AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying group.
Historical and religious figures got verified on Twitter too, with blue check marks appearing next to parody George Washington and Jesus Christ accounts. A fake Nintendo account simply posted an image of the titular Mario character flashing his middle finger.
There were even other Lilly accounts popping up trying to paint the company’s real Twitter as the imposter, resulting in a proverbial whack-a-mole.
Musk had originally launched his $44 billion Twitter takeover bid back in April, but the deal took several months to wrap up after he tried backing out and execs sued him to force its completion. Musk eventually dropped his objections and officially became Twitter CEO on October 27, immediately laying off several C-suite officers and half the company’s workforce soon after.
As Musk promised to create a new environment promoting “free speech” without the site devolving into a “hellscape,” several advertisers paused their commitments or fled the company entirely, out of fear their ads would be seen near explicit or objectionable content. The moves threatened to cut off one of Twitter’s crucial revenue streams — with uses of racial slurs and epithets reportedly surging — and Musk warned Twitter may potentially declare bankruptcy as more executives resigned Thursday.
Twitter advertising pause or persist? Pharmas quietly weigh options in uncertain time
The chaos came to a head Thursday after Musk’s plan to institute a subscription service, where users could pay to be “verified” for $8 per month, went live. Twitter wrapped the paid verifications into its already existing premium Twitter Blue, moving away from its past practice of only verifying official government, corporate or media accounts.
But as of early Friday morning, some of the chaos seemed to abate: the ability to sign up for a new Twitter Blue account was no longer available.
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