AP Twitter Account Hacked: False Report of White House Explosions
The nation was sent into a panic as followers of the Associated Press account retweeted the message over 1,000 times extending the reach of the message into the hundreds of thousands. Not too long after the tweet went out the nations stock exchange reacted almost immediately. The U.S. Dow Jones fell 1% an equivalent of over 150 points after the tweet went viral. The urgent drop in the Dow has since risen back to a steady rate.
The Associated Press quickly withdrew the statement and confirmed the hack via Facebook and its Corporate Twitter Account. While, Twitter and representatives from both the Associated Press office and White House also confirmed the hacking and safety of our nation and President.
The Associated Press released a statement immediately saying "The AP twitter account has been hacked," the news cooperative said moments after the incident. "The tweet about an attack at the White House is false. We will advise more as soon as possible."
The Associated Press has suspended its Twitter account and not released any further information on the hacking or when their account will be back online.
For more information on the social media reaction check out our Storify below:
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