Musk Tries To Confront Bernie Sanders Over Rising Insulin Prices, Twitter Community Comes To The Rescue
It all started as a prank.
Elon Musk turned a joke about Twitter verification into a real-world mess, and the fallout spread far beyond social media. What started as a $8 blue badge stunt quickly became a story about fake corporate accounts, market panic, and one very sensitive topic: insulin prices.
After users began impersonating companies and posting chaotic messages, a fake Eli Lilly account claimed insulin would be free, and the reaction was immediate. That false post set off a wave of confusion, a sharp stock drop, and a public back-and-forth that pulled Bernie Sanders into the mix.
By the time Twitter started fact-checking the chaos, the whole thing had turned into a bigger fight than anyone expected.
Elon Musk recently decided to sell Twitter "blue credentials" for $8 each
JD LasicaTherefore, once Musk decided to sell blue badges, there was initially a surge of outrage, including a series of articles from Stephen King, and then internet users developed a new approach to compete with Twitter.
People started purchasing account verification and naming them after companies to make them appear as legitimate corporate sites. However, a surge of absurd, caustic, and plainly offensive tweets from these same accounts, including, incidentally, the bogus Tesla page, emerged.
That joke did not stay funny for long.
Insulin is free!
kenklippensteinAt first glance, everything appeared to be a funny practical joke, that is, until the false Eli Lilly account claimed that insulin would be free going forward. Of course, very few people actually believed in such a philanthropic assertion, but just in case, investors and traders began to dump business shares worldwide.
As a result, Eli Lilly's stock fell by 4.
Then the backlash got personal.
Apologies...
LillyPad
That's not all, though
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders weighed in, stating that Eli Lilly should have apologized in the first place for the fact that since 1996, they have increased the price of insulin by more than 1,200%, while the cost is less than $10.
After Eli Lilly's official Twitter account responded, apologizing for the unintentional misinformation associated with the brand, the senator pointed out that when the insulin creators sold their patents for $1 in 1923, they did so to save lives rather than to benefit the CEO of Eli Lilly.
BernieSanders
Musk responded
elonmusk
Musk got into a debate with Senator Bernie Sanders on insulin pricing
JUNlPER
And then suddenly got fact-checked by the Twitter team
JUNlPER
This is like the WIBTA dilemma over a friend’s costly “investment advice”.
Here it goes:
JUNlPER
True:
davenewworld_2
Good for him
IwriteOK
U.S. insulin prices:
GoodPoliticGuy
This is so sad
FrenchHist
What are they apologizing for?
MorePerfectUS
Insulin prices in the U.S. are crazy
2C2K Photography
Big money
rafaelshimunov
So sad...
rafaelshimunov
$17 billion for just $8? Not bad...
Chamomillionair
Go figure...
IwriteOK
Class solidarity
KnowNothingTV
He could've...
FiercelyNormal
Sounds interesting...
ajbauer
Two things:
Booker4KY
More than 7 million Americans have diabetes and need to take insulin daily. During the past ten years, the drug's price has increased dramatically. And that is simply terrible.
That is why the joke landed so badly.
Still want more Elon controversy? See Musk’s meat-based breakfast pick and the “forever” food debate.
