WELLINGTON: The government of Kiribati has stated that it was not the source of a humorous social media post that gained widespread attention. Earlier this week, the @KiribatiGov account on X (formerly Twitter) responded to a lighthearted jab about the country’s place names, such as Poland, Paris, London, and Banana.
The user @VoxDocVoxDei posted a map of Kiritimati Island and commented, “I think Kiribati just gave up when it came time to name cities.” The response from @KiribatiGov was, “Fine. You’re not invited.”
This exchange went viral, with 27 million views and almost half a million likes.
However, despite claiming to be the official account for the Republic of Kiribati, the @KiribatiGov account is actually a fake. Senior presidential communications official Tearinibeia Enoo-Teabo informed AFP that the account is unauthorized.
Efforts have been made to address the issue with X, but the identity of the person behind the fake account remains unknown. The population of Kiribati is approximately 130,000, so tracking down the perpetrator may prove to be challenging.
P.S. It’s pronounced “Kir-ih-bas”, not “Kir-ih-bati”. – AFP
