False Tweet Rocks the Stock Market

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A fake tweet on Associated Press's Twitter feed sent the blue-chip Dow down about 145 points in two minutes. The market quickly recovered, but the incident reminds us how reactive we are to potentially false information.

Associated Press confirmed that its feed had been hacked, although no individual or group has yet taken responsibility. The false tweet is below.

False Tweet on AP

This is certainly not the first case of hacking. Facebook and Twitter both admitted security breaches over the past few months. In a February blog post, Twitter outlined plans to improve security.

Image source.

Discussion Starters:

  • What are the ethics of this situation? Analyze the behavior of those who acted and those affected.
  • Are the hackers responsible for the effect of the tweet, or should investors be smarter about using information to make trades?