This wasn't vandalism. It wasn't hacking in the traditional sense (no firewalls were breached, no passwords stolen). It was : the deliberate manipulation, poisoning, or exploitation of automated decision-making systems to produce a harmful, absurd, or destructive outcome.
Here is what actually happened: Sell algorithms saw the price drop and sold more. Buy algorithms saw the chaos and withdrew. But crucially, (illegal sabotage) placed massive orders they never intended to execute, tricking other algorithms into thinking demand was high, then canceled them. “algorithmic sabotage”
We saw this with Facebook’s News Feed algorithm. For years, engagement was king. Saboteurs (political operatives, troll farms) learned that anger generated the most clicks. So they poisoned the feed with rage-bait. The algorithm, thinking "anger = relevance," amplified it. The saboteurs weren't hacking code; they were hacking the reward function. This wasn't vandalism
A system that cannot be questioned—a system that treats every input as truth—invites sabotage. By removing human discretion, we force humans to communicate with the system only through actions. And when the only language left is action, the action becomes violent (or deceptive). Here is what actually happened: Sell algorithms saw
The algorithm is a mirror. It reflects our intent, but also our malice. We are teaching these systems to trust us, and we are lying to them.