Eli Lilly impersonator reveals identity after drug company's stocks fall with his fake tweet

The man behind the Eli Lilly parody account said that he is “pleasantly surprised” when he finds out that his tweet sparked a discussion about the insulin drug cost.

It was on November, 10, that the 33-year-old Sean Morrow from New York tweeted from the parody Eli Lilly account saying that from now onwards, “insulin is free”. This tweet set Twitter ablaze on that day.

For Twitter users, the verified @EliLillyandCo account might have seemed genuine because of the blue checkmark. However, it was one of the many parody accounts created by the original $8 Twitter Blue scheme rolled out by Elon Musk. The purpose of the account was to troll a major drug producer company.


Though the tweet was removed hours after it was retweeted and shared, on November 11, the incident caused the stock price of Eli Lilly to plummet to $352.30 from $368.72. However, Morrow told Newsweek that there was any direct impact of his tweet on the share price of Eli Lilly. He said that multiple reasons cause the “rise and fall” of corporate values and that “the stock market is complicated”.


He further said even if the tweet had affected the stock in an unlikely situation, the reason behind it was not deception, as “no one truly believed” about the drug being free.


It was on November, 22, that Morrow first revealed himself to be the person behind the account through a video. He shared the video from his work’s Twitter account, the More Perfect Union.


FAQs:

1. Did Eli Lilly discover insulin?
   No
2. How much does a blue tick cost on Twitter?
   $8