Introduction
As you may or may not have seen, we have been keeping a running… list … funny posts… sad posts… who knows what it is that is kind of keeping tabs on the impact of Elons takeover of the Twitterverse.
So now that it has been a bit of adding blue checkmarks, getting rid of them, getting rid of most of the staff, and adding new checkmarks, who knows? We can’t even It’s been a bit, and we’ve started to see the shakeout of these fast and loose changes in policies take effect on people who use Twitter, and those who have decided they don’t want to use it anymore. So what’s the big deal?
With only $8 and a few words, this guy showed the issues with Twitter
Someone with a bit of time on their hands, like 10 minutes, basically showed the two huge things at play in or the world right now. The first is that for $8 this person basically fooled the entire world into thinking that insulin is free… which is the second part of this…
And that is that Insulin is in fact, NOT FREE. It is very, VERY expensive. There is basically a monopoly on the insulin market, and I personally know people who have to ration their insulin because it is just too expensive. This is something that they will die without and doesn’t actually cost much to make. Add to this that there is 0 R&D needed to keep this product effective there is no reason that the patent continues on.
Insulin/Twitter, what actually happened?
A journalist made a parody account that he paid $8 to get the fancy blue checkmark from Twitter, and with the simple tweet:
The world went into a meltdown, ok maybe they didn’t but it did bring a spotlight directly to the issues that the world has with both insulin and this pay-to-play blue checkmark.
This fake tweet caused the stock price of Novo Nordisk to drop by 3 percent. This is not the first time that a fake tweet has caused havoc on the stock market. In 2013, a fake tweet from the Associated Press about a bombing at the White House sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbling 145 points in just minutes. While it may seem like a harmless prank, posting false information on social media can have serious consequences but it also comes with the reality that as serious as this is on their bottom line… it is even more important on everyday people’s lives who rely on these drugs to stay alive.
It isn’t about making profits, as they make money. They don’t need to advertise this drug as it isn’t something people can choose to use or not. It isn’t like Advil vs Tylenol. People need this to live and there are few options to choose from. In fact the CEO actually stated
It probably highlights that we have more work to do to bring down the cost of insulin for more people
David A. Ricks – CEO of ELi Lilly ( the company that didn’t say Insuslin is now free )
Video about Insulin being Free on Twitter
We found this awesome video from the person who made the account and he posted great points, so check it out if you want more info about it and if you feel like you agree with it, the best thing you can do is to try to take action. I know that people are continually lobbying to bring down the price of insulin so if you feel inclined to please contact your local government rep, or voice your opinion online:
Conclusion
As the fight for affordable insulin continues, people will continue to be faced with the fact that they have to ration their amounts and basically play Russian roulette for a treatment they can’t live without. The tweets in this article were real and from a fake account, but they highlighted the reality that A) the checkmarks aren’t good, B) Insulin is too expensive…
This media firestorm highlights the ongoing struggle that many people face when trying to access this life-saving medication. The high cost of insulin means that many people are forced to ration their supplies or go without altogether. This is an unacceptable situation, and advocates will continue to fight for change. We have no clue what will happen at Twitter, but hopefully if anything positive comes out of this we could see some movement on the price on Insulin…
