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How $8 and a fake twitter account just lost Pharma $15 Billion in a day

www.whatthehealth.io

How $8 and a fake twitter account just lost Pharma $15 Billion in a day

The power of media and distribution. And why it matters

Emily Casey
Nov 13, 2022
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How $8 and a fake twitter account just lost Pharma $15 Billion in a day

www.whatthehealth.io

Media and distribution are, really, the ultimate source of power.

It’s something politicians, leaders, big pharma, and advertisers, have known, maximised, and perhaps, manipulated for far too long…

But this week - a pharma company found itself the victim of the media game.

Twitter avatar for @rafaelshimunov
Rafael Shimunov is on Mastodon @rafaelshimunov
Did Twitter Blue tweet just cost Eli Lilly $LLY billions? Yes.
Image
Image
6:20 PM ∙ Nov 11, 2022
409,507Likes62,486Retweets

If you somehow missed it, Twitter, the “free speech” platform was recently bought by Billionaire and ultimate biz influencer Elon Musk. And with that, came some big changes.

The biggest - you can now “buy” verification for just $8. For those wondering what verification is - it is usually reserved for celebrities, public figures, organisations and journalists to confirm legitimacy in the form of a shiny blue tick. So this meant now literally, every man, his dog, and his hundreds of bots can now be “legit”. LOL.

Which led to this…

Twitter avatar for @alifarhat79
Not Jerome Powell @alifarhat79
Someone paid $8 for Twitter blue and wiped out $15 billion in market cap from a big pharmaceutical company
Image
Image
12:07 AM ∙ Nov 12, 2022
36,631Likes5,533Retweets

TL;DR

  • Someone made an imposter account of Eli Lilly and Company, a giant pharma company, and paid US$8 to get “verified”

  • They then tweeted that “Insulin is now free” from said “fake” verified account

  • The real behemoth, who charges hundreds of dollars for a vial of insulin (and has faced lash back from it), making a reported US$28.3Bn in revenue in 2021 - saw its stock price plummet, a total of 4.37% at its worst - wiping US$15Bn in value from the Market Cap. In. A. Day.

All from a lil tweet…

All of the internet right now…

Of course, the real Eli Lilly then had to issue an apology for the confusion.

Which is frankly hilarious. But also, being real - a little scary.

It’s a great example of just how much power social media, a few individuals and corporations hold over us. Whilst demonstrating just how floored and flipping unstable these so-called “systems” and foundations are upon which all of us, society, business and healthcare, operate.

I.e. - Us humans be crazy yo

“Normal” healthcare, for whatever reason, has arguably neglected, or not really gotten in the game with mainstream media for far too long. Understandably, with fears of backlash. Or legal action and such.

It’s been slowly getting better, with TikTok docs, influencer health professionals and the likes slowly coming through.

But, I’d argue it’s something that the health profession, especially in Australia, still pays far too little attention to.

And now, after a series of somewhat Media and PR disasters (cough *Media attack on GPs defrauding Medicare and COVID anyone*) we can’t exactly look away any longer…

The industry needs to reassess and look seriously at investing in some new, and stronger strategies in this space. After all, media, advertising and education really control more health outcomes than almost any other thing. Apart from potentially, postcode. But even then, those factors contribute largely to the heart of that issue too.

We are what we consume…

💡 Anyway, here are a few takeaways from this week’s shenanigans

  1. Media, and Social Media - are obscenely, and scarily, powerful
    With a disproportionate effect on what and who we believe. Along with health and business outcomes. Arguably, far more than traditional news and journalism

  2. Distribution is an unfair advantage

  3. Markets are often highly irrational and emotional in nature - and so too are investments and investor behaviour

  4. Words, and what you say matter - they always do and wield a crazy amount of power, but especially at scale

  5. In a world where we’re more online than ever, it’s becoming harder to tell where reality starts and ends

  6. Medical misinformation and misinformation around healthcare is rife - And we’re all exposed to it every darn day, whether we know it or not. This is just one tiny example we can easily see. But this is the type of stuff which we all operate off and base our decisions upon, consciously and unconsciously every day

  7. Elon Musk may single-handedly destroy Twitter, and the world - ok, I’m being dramatic but who knows at this point

Twitter avatar for @elonmusk
Elon Musk @elonmusk
Going forward, accounts engaged in parody must include “parody” in their name, not just in bio
1:51 AM ∙ Nov 11, 2022
352,358Likes29,601Retweets

PS - After this debacle, and thousands of accounts impersonating Elon himself and other actual brands, Twitter blue and verification are having yet another overhaul (ie crisis). And it is now “illegal” on Twitter to impersonate someone without stating “Parody” in your name.

Just 2 weeks after the acquisition was celebrated by this statement…

Twitter avatar for @elonmusk
Elon Musk @elonmusk
Comedy is now legal on Twitter
9:16 PM ∙ Oct 28, 2022
2,400,179Likes261,284Retweets


Anyway. Great little LOL. Great lesson. But seriously… somewhat concerning 😂 🙃

And why we need more investment in good health media, content and distribution.


Speaking of Media and Distribution…

We’re trialling something a little new.

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Why $8? Since Elon reckons $8 is the right price, we thought we’d try it too. It's also almost 2 coffees ☕️ (damn inflation).

PS - that’s a total lie, it just happened to be the same number. He stole my thunder and announced it first…

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👋 Emily

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How $8 and a fake twitter account just lost Pharma $15 Billion in a day

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