Microblogging site Twitter had been using the incorrect flag to represent the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in its regular tweets about the ICC World Cup.
The tournament, which lasts for over a month, is currently under way in the Antipodes.
However, the use of the wrong flag was not noticed by Twitter, as it was fans that first realised that the incorrect image was appearing in their newsfeeds.
The social media site is marking the world cup with the use of what it is calling ‘hashflags’. Any users typing the hash key (#), followed by the three letter initials of a particular country, will see the flag of that nation in their tweets.
It seemed to be working well, until the error concerning the Arab country’s flag was spotted.
The UAE flag is green, white and black horizontal stripes, together with a left-hand side vertical strip in red. However, Twitter presented the flag with a black stripe at the top and a red triangle instead of the band.
One social media user was far from impressed. With the flag put up by Twitter being starkly similar to one used by Arab nationalists during the First World War, Bindu Rai tweeted:
“I grew up in this country. These things are important to me.”
So, whilst making errors with social media is something large firms the world over get hit for six about, it seems that even one of the biggest names online can still get caught out.
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