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Nellie Ohr's avatar

This is an important topic and a serious threat. Social media-fueled rumors can also cause bank runs, as Natto Thoughts has pointed out https://nattothoughts.substack.com/p/stymied-in-ukraine-putins-government . Also, in a comment on that post I pointed to a May 22, 2023 false report that an explosion had occurred at the US Pentagon that morning https://www.insider.com/ai-generated-hoax-explosion-pentagon-viral-markets-dipped-2023-5 .The image appeared to be AI-generated or otherwise manipulated. On this false news, the S&P Stock Index briefly lost $500 billion (https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1660679743266607105 Russian state media amplified that story before it was taken down. The May 2023 incident also resembles the 2013 hack of the AP News Service Twitter feed in 2013, which claimed that a bombing of the White House had injured US president Barack Obama and caused US stock markets to plunge briefly. The hack was attributed to the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) (https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/computer-hacking-conspiracy-charges-unsealed-against-members-syrian-electronic-army). Resemblances between the SEA's targeting and tactics and that of Russian pseudo-hacktivist groups suggests cooperation between them. In addition to the political effects such false messaging could have, people involved in these hoaxes could have capitalized on the brief stock market plunge and rebound to profit from stock manipulations.

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