Prank spurs unexpected scrutiny of insulin prices

Washington: A Twitter imposter cost a US pharmaceutical giant billions of dollars, but the viral prank triggered another unexpected crisis – a new wave of scrutiny of the high cost of its insulin.

Authentic-looking fake accounts proliferated last week after Twitter rolled out a paid verification service, the latest in a string of chaotic developments since Elon Musk’s buyout of the influential platform.

Among the victims was drugmaker Eli Lilly, whose stock price nosedived – erasing billions in market capitalisation – after a parody account stamped with a verification tag purchased for US$8 tweeted that insulin was being made available for free.

The company was forced to issue an apology for the “misleading message from a fake Lily account,” but the disinformation stirred fresh attention to a long-festering debate about high insulin prices.

“What you should *actually* apologise for is price gouging life-saving insulin,” tweeted Chicago-based human rights lawyer Qasim Rashid.

“People are dying because of your greed (and) cruelty. Apologise for that.”

Gaining traction alongside such comments was a cartoon meme with a half-elephant, half-human character riling up people to be more upset about the price of insulin than the price of gas.

“Fake Eli Lilly might be offering something closer to truth than real Eli Lilly,” Peter Maybarduk, from the nonprofit Public Citizen, told reporters.

“Parody is successful when it reveals embarrassing and widely understood truth.”