Pentagon Denies Reports Of Explosion: Market Dips After Fake Tweets

Markets are volatile Monday morning after a fake image of an explosion in Washington, D.C. circulated on Twitter. A Department of Defense spokesperson has since denied the veracity of the image and the original tweet has been deleted.

What Happened: A tweet claiming there were "initial reports" of a large explosion near the Pentagon was deleted soon after it was posted on the social media platform Monday morning. 

Shortly after the tweet was taken down, a Pentagon spokesperson said the tweet was false. 

"No explosion here this morning," the spokesperson said, according to multiple sources. 

Several Twitter users are now highlighting parts of the photo that appear to show the image was generated by artificial intelligence (AI).

Benzinga carefully reported on the matter as the news was breaking, noting the initial reports could not be confirmed. 

SPY Price Action: The SPDR S&P 500 SPY turned sharply lower shortly after the fake tweet was posted before bouncing back. Markets were relatively flat at the time of writing, with the SPY down 0.09% at $418.23 at last check, per Benzinga Pro.

Photo via Shutterstock.