In today’s increasingly digitalized world, the effect of a software glitch can be dramatic. For example, in July of this year, a glitch caused the stock prices of well-known Nasdaq companies such as Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, eBay, and Microsoft to be inaccurately listed on websites long after that day’s closing bell.
Even though the actual prices of the stocks were unchanged, the sites showed some had plummeted in price and others had nearly doubled. Unsurprisingly, many people were fooled and took to social media to discuss the false listings, dragging company names into a controversy over something that had never happened.