After the stock market plunged because of a fake tweet from the hacked account of the Associated Press, students said they remain weary of social media’s impact on the stock market. Adam Eastburn, a junior in art from California, said, “It’s pretty crazy because we are already at the height of alarm for terrorist attacks or attacks in general, like school shootings, anything. This goes to show that one tweet can blow the whole country off its seat.” According to CNN.com, “Hackers took over the Associated Press Twitter account and falsely claimed that there had been explosions at the White House and that the president was hurt. The tweet was up for a few minutes and retweeted more than 3,000 times before Twitter took the account offline.” In those few minutes, it is estimated to have been seen by more than 2 million people. The FBI is currently investigating the recent hack. Todd Everette, a senior in finance from Conneticut, said, “It says a couple of things. It’s scary that people rely on social media for their news. It’s also scary that the market is so driven by social media. It’s not based on actual numbers, but press releases and news.” The tweet read, “Breaking: Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured,” causing a negative reaction from the New York Stock Exchange. According to USAToday.com, the stock market dropped 143.5 points in minutes, taking away about $136 billion of value. Soon after, the Associated Press exposed that the account was hacked and the tweet was fake. Stocks quickly recovered and ended the day up 152 points. John Scileo, a social media privacy expert, said on USA Today, “One of the real issues there is the high frequency trading. There are algorithms that go out and trade based on headlines. And when you trade based on headlines, the minute it starts taking a dive or going up, it just follows that pattern, and then automatic stock trades are made.” Students said they rely heavily on Twitter for news updates. Kylie Racker, a senior in marketing from Utah, said, “Twitter is great because I am able to follow accounts that keep me updated with news all over the world. I follow lots of different accounts, ranging from breaking news to random fun facts. As cliché as it sounds, Twitter really does connect you to what’s most important to you.” The Syrian Electronic Army took advantage of the heavy use of the social media platform as it claimed to have initiated the hacked Twitter account. It has also said to be responsible for hacking into other news outlet Twitter accounts such as CBS, NPR, and the BBC, according to wsj.com. The SEA states on it “About” page, “We are a group of enthusiastic Syrian youths who could not stay passive towards the massive distortion of facts about the recent uprising in Syria.”
Writer: Jeff McLeod~Copy Editor
