BBC blames 'human error' for Bengali Breaking News alert after hack fears
A BBC breaking news alert, which followers assumed was in Arabic, whipped social media users into a frenzy last night (Friday 2 September) as people thought the broadcaster had been hacked by Isis.
BBC
Former BBC economics editor Robert Peston was among the first to notice the message, tweeting: ‘BBC has just pushed this breaking news alert to my phone. Anyone know what it means?’
BBC has just pushed this breaking news alert to my phone. Anyone know what it means? pic.twitter.com/fMS4JUrgdl
— Robert Peston (@Peston) September 2, 2016
The topic quickly trended across Twitter with users speculating the message was in Arabic and the BBC was under the control of terrorist group IS.
Did anyone else just receive the breaking news alert in Arabic? #bbc — Kayla Watts (@Kayla_JWatts) September 2, 2016
Pretty sure the BBC News app was hacked a few minutes ago, unless they're now breaking news in Arabic.
— David McIlroy (@david_mcilroy) September 2, 2016
BBC app has been hacked!! Ahhhhh there taking over! #bbcnews #bbcapp — Tom kent (@kent1_10) September 2, 2016
However, it quickly emerged the tweet was written in Bengali with the BBC blaming a technical error.
A spokesperson from the BBC said it was sent by mistake and taken down moments later. “It was just an error, somebody tweeted from the wrong account. It was literally a human error and it has been corrected,” they assured.
The Breaking News division followed up, tweeting: “Apologies to anyone who received a breaking news alert from our Bengali service. Don’t worry, we weren’t hacked.”
Apologies to anyone who received a breaking news alert from our Bengali service. Don't worry, we weren't hacked
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) September 2, 2016
The tweet in question concerned a police raid on a militant hideout in Mirpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh, where one suspect was killed and three officers injured.