Interesting cause and effect - unintended or intended?

Hackers who support Syrian President Bashar Assad claimed responsibility Tuesday for hijacking an Associated Press Twitter account and falsely tweeting that explosions were rattling the White House.

"Ops! @AP get owned by Syrian Electronic Army! #SEA #Syria #ByeByeObama" tweeted an account tied to the hacking group, linking to a screenshot of the hacked AP account.

The false tweet also claimed President Obama had been injured. It made little traction with other news organizations. Other Twitter accounts tied to the news agency quickly disavowed the fake tweet. White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters at a regularly scheduled news briefing Tuesday that the president was fine.
http://www.latimes.com/news/world/wo...0,244289.story

Though the story was a fake, the repercussions of it are quite real, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average taking a 100 point hit in the moments following the fake tweet.
http://www.geekosystem.com/ap-twitter-hacked/