Fake Twitter Post From Hacked AP Twitter Account Causes Chaos

The Twitter account for the Associated Press was hacked this afternoon and this post was sent out to the world:

 “Breaking: Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured.”

This was not true and was quickly refuted, but it this result according to the BBC:

US markets were spooked by the tweet; the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 150 points as it was retweeted.

The market did recover, but it proves how this sort of prank can have devastating results. That likely explains this:

On Tuesday evening, the FBI said it was investigating the incident.

I wouldn’t want to be the person who sent out that tweet.

The moral of the story, don’t believe everything you read on Twitter.

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