BBC sorry over Game of Thrones nudity notification
Smartphone users left baffled after BBC News app sends out bizarre push notification by accident
Millions of people were left baffled today when the BBC News app sent out a peculiar breaking news message about nudity in Game of Thrones.
Subscribers to the app's news alerts are normally sent major breaking news stories to their phones in the form of push notifications.
But today they received a slightly bizarre one: "NYPD Twitter campaign 'backfires' after hashtag hijacked. Push sucks! Pull blows! BREAKING NEWS No nudity in the latest episode of Game of Thrones!!! MORE BREAKING NEWS IIIIII like testing."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The alert, which was sent twice, appeared to merge a real story from April 2014 about a New York Police Department Twitter campaign with an invented "breaking news" story about a lack of nudity in a Game of Thrones episode – with plenty of exclamation marks in between.
Several people took to Twitter to ask if the BBC News app was "drunk" or if it needed a "lie down".
Many assumed it had been hacked by pranksters.
But a spokesperson from the BBC told the Daily Telegraph an "unnamed employee" who was testing new features of the app was to blame. Rather than publishing the message on an internal testing system, they pushed it to all users of the real app by accident. The BBC subsequently apologised to anyone who was "unnecessarily interrupted with the alert".
"It's egg on the face and a stern reprimand for one fat-fingered BBC News staffer," says The Guardian's Media Monkey.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Melting polar ice is messing with global timekeeping
Speed Read Ice loss caused by climate change is slowing the Earth's rotation
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The Week contest: Stick guitar
Puzzles and Quizzes
By The Week US Published
-
'Sports executives ushered a fox into the henhouse'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
The Princess Diana interview and Martin Bashir's redacted dossier
Why everyone's talking about The newly revealed documents show Bashir claimed jealousy and discrimination fuelled allegations against him
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published
-
Huw Edwards and the question of ‘public interest’
Talking Point Privacy law ‘mess’ needs to be cleared up, not by judges, but by Parliament
By The Week Staff Published
-
Huw Edwards named as presenter at centre of BBC crisis
In Depth News reader’s wife, Vicky Flind, says he will remain in hospital for foreseeable future
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Fiona Bruce: has Question Time host been ‘hung out to dry’?
In Depth Presenter accused of trivialising domestic abuse in debate about Stanley Johnson
By The Week Staff Published
-
BBC at 100: what does the future hold for at-threat institution?
Today's Big Question The British Broadcasting Corporation is facing looming funding cuts amid digital ‘transformation’ of media
By The Week Staff Published
-
BBC at 100: what does the future hold for at-threat institution?
Today's Big Question The British Broadcasting Corporation is facing looming funding cuts amid digital ‘transformation’ of media
By Julia O'Driscoll Published
-
Free app access for The Week’s subscribers during Royal Mail strikes
Speed Read If you have a subscription to The Week magazine you can read the digital edition on your tablet or phone
By The Week Staff Published
-
BBC funding row: the alternatives to a licence fee
In Depth Government signals end to ‘outdated’ model in broadcasting white paper
By The Week Staff Last updated