Eli Lilly stated on Thursday that it is not giving away insulin, despite a parody Twitter account’s erroneous claim to the contrary.
According to Forbes, the issue started when a spoof Twitter account with the handle @EliLillyandCo announced that insulin was now free on Thursday morning.
However, the actual company’s Twitter username is not @EliLillyandCo.
“We apologise to anyone who received a false message from a fictitious Lilly account. @LillyPad is our official Twitter handle,” the business tweeted on Thursday afternoon.
According to Forbes, the fictitious Eli Lilly post has been classified as a parody profile.
The complication appears to have been caused by Twitter’s new verification procedure.
The bogus account included a blue check mark, indicating that it had been approved through Twitter Blue, a brand-new $7.99/month membership service launched just days ago by Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter. Twitter Blue, according to the social networking site, “elevates quality conversations on Twitter.” (Before Musk seized over, Twitter gave those checkmarks for free to journalists and other reputable, real Twitter users.)
Later on Thursday night, the Indianapolis Star reported that false information was posted on a second phoney Eli Lilly account with a verification checkmark.
