EXTRA: Twitter labels Norway prime minister as ‘Nigeria government official’

Twitter has mixed up its labelling of some Norwegian government officials, including Prime Minister Jonas Store.

In its description of Norway’s foreign ministry account, the micro-blogging platform wrote “Nigeria government organisation”.

On Tuesday, the Norwegian ministry raised the alarm over the disparity in identities and asked Twitter to rectify the issue.

The misappropriation of identities was also found in the accounts of the country’s prime minister, and Anniken Huitfeldt, the foreign minister.

“Dear @TwitterSupport, as much as we enjoy .our excellent bilateral relations and close alphabetical vicinity with Nigeria, we would much appreciate if you could label us as Norway,” the Norwegian ministry tweeted.

“P.S. That also goes for Prime Minister @jonasgahrstore and Foreign Minister @AHuitfeldt.”

Dear @TwitterSupport, as much as we enjoy our excellent bilateral relations and close alphabetical vicinity with Nigeria, we would much appreciate if you could label us as Norway😉

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P.S. That also goes for Prime Minister @jonasgahrstore and Foreign Minister @AHuitfeldt 🇳🇴 pic.twitter.com/wr6cb3yv2W

— Norway MFA (@NorwayMFA) December 13, 2022

Good conversation with @avucic, on energy security in Europe, the excellent bilateral cooperation between Norway and Serbia and our continued support to Ukraine.

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— Jonas Gahr Støre (@jonasgahrstore) November 28, 2022

Ser fram til å snakke om veien videre for Afghanistan på Nobel-forumet i dag. Viktig å høre fra kvinner i Afghanistan om deres situasjon. Vi må ikke glemme det afghanske folket, som nå går en vanskelig vinter i møte.
Se arrangementet her kl. 13.00: https://t.co/0OVKeDBUSd pic.twitter.com/W3tAIGU8GY

— Anniken Huitfeldt (@AHuitfeldt) December 11, 2022

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Twitter had recently announced plans to roll out a new system which would allow anyone to buy a blue checkmark for $8 per month.

In November, Twitter said it would add an “official” label to some verified high-profile accounts to prevent cloning.

Esther Crawford, Twitter’s early-stage products executive, said the label is not available for purchase and will only be offered to “government accounts, commercial companies, business partners, major media outlets, publishers, and some public figures”.

The company is yet to respond to the Norwegian and Nigerian identity mismatch inquiry as of the time of this report.