Cointelegraph apologizes for false tweet

Cyrptocurrency news site Cointelegraph has apologized for a tweet falsely stating that the Securities and Exchange Commission had approved a Bitcoin exchange traded fund.

A story on its website states, “Earlier today, during routine coverage, Cointelegraph’s social media team posted a message on X without prior editorial approval stating that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission had approved BlackRock’s iShares spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, or ETF. This was false, the result of misinformation. The news lead originated from an unconfirmed screenshot posted by an X user who claimed it was from the Bloomberg Terminal.

“Cointelegraph did not ultimately publish an article with this incorrect information, but we deeply regret posting this in error on X and the impact it has caused. An internal investigation revealed that our standard procedure for posting breaking news on social media, wherein sources are required to be verified before posting to social media, was not followed.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.