Lockheed Martin lost more than $7 billion in value in parallel with the fake verified Twitter account's announcement that it was stopping arms shipments to Saudi Arabia, the U.S. and Israel
The emergence of the ability to make a "verified" account for $8 has had a negative impact on many large companies.
Here's What We Know
When Elon Musk announced that a Twitter subscription would allow everyone to add the "blue check mark" to their verified accounts, it was only a matter of time before a large number of fake accounts popped up. One of them was called (already deleted) @lockheemartini.
Many people were not confused by the extra letter. The fake account wrote that Lockheed Martin was ceasing to supply arms to the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia because of human rights violations in those countries. After that, the share price of the American company fell by almost 5.5%, and its capitalization decreased by more than $7 billion.
However, it should be noted that the share price of Lockheed Martin may have fallen for other reasons, despite the fact that it occurred in parallel with the appearance of a fake Twitter account. The securities of some defense companies also fell in price, although they were not affected by the new Twitter Blue features. In particular, Raytheon and General Dynamics.
But it's also impossible not to notice that the influx of fake accounts is affecting firms. For example, a fake Eli Lilly account announced that the company would be giving away free insulin. The official account had to apologize afterward, but the stock plummeted. Also on Twitter there were fakes of SpaceX, Nestle, Roblox, George Bush and Elon Musk himself. Because of this, the new owner of Twitter canceled the distribution of blue ticks to everyone.
Image: Lockheed Martin