AP Twitter Account Hacked, Tweets False White House Scare

It was enough to scare the stock market, at least temporarily.

Following a hack attack by an unknown perpetrator, the Associated Press’ verified Twitter account posted “an erroneous tweet” claiming that two explosions occurred in the White House and that President Barack Obama is injured. Moments later, the @AP Twitter account — with nearly 2 million followers — was suspended.

Immediately following the false tweet, the Dow Industrial Average lost about 140 points. These losses were immediately recovered. (See chart below.)

“That’s a bogus tweet,” an AP spokesperson initially told NBC News, a statement that was repeated by the company’s corporate communications account. “That’s all I have for you right now.” Though the initial tweet disappeared, the false message continued to exist on the service in over four thousand retweets.

By: Cheston Catalano

Cheston Catalano is a Kentucky-based journalist whose work has been featured in the Chattanooga Times Free Press and the Clarksville Leaf Chronicle. He is a long-time contributor to Liberaland.