Federal government staff made a series of social media errors that had to be later deleted, including spelling the Queen of England’s name wrong after her death, according to records from an Inquiry of Ministry.
On Dec. 1, 2022, Ontario Conservative MP Michael Barrett filed a request to cabinet for an itemized list of all deleted tweets since 2019.
According to Blacklocks’ Reporter, Barrett specifically asked: “With regard to tweets made by the government that were later deleted, what are the details of each instance?”
There were multiple tweets deleted. For example, the Privy Council Office was forced to delete a tweet about the Queen after her death on Sept. 8, 2022. Staffers misspelled her name as “Elisabeth.”
While the clerk’s chief of staff approved the tweet, it was deleted due to “a spelling inconsistency of the Queen’s name and title between the French and English tweet.”
In 2019, the Library and Archives Canada posted on Twitter in honour of World Breastfeeding Day, but used a photo it “did not have consent to publish,” said the records.
Two weeks after Hurricane Fiona hit the United States, the department of agriculture sent out an Oct. 6, 2022, tweet stating: “Many farmers in Atlantic Canada and Eastern Québec are feeling overwhelmed and stressed by the damage left from Hurricane Fiona. Find mental health support here.”
The tweet was deleted.
In another later-deleted, “poorly timed” tweet, the Department of Fisheries stated, “If you find lobsters washed up on the shore after the storm remember it is illegal to harvest them. Simply leave them there.”
The fisheries department also deleted a tweet on Nov. 21 about a “fun fact about swordfish and the parasites they carry.” The message was later deleted, apparently due to “sensitivities about the parasites,” according to documents.
Fisheries had to delete an Aug. 19, 2021, post two days later. The post, which was a video about Pacific salmon being vital to the West Coast economy, used an “illegal song.”
In 2021, the Department of Public Works made a Twitter post about the upcoming auction of a gold Rolex watch seized by Customs agents. The tweet by the Crown Assets Disposal Office was later deleted, after an inquiry “about the watch potentially being stolen,” said the government documents.
In 2019, Environment Canada deleted a 2019 tweet for containing “factually inaccurate” information. “Small island countries are at the front lines of climate change,” it said. “The Minister of Environment hosted a meeting to discuss how to help these small islands.”
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) also deleted multiple tweets, including one in 2021 that told Canadians: “Be a chimp-ion this tax season and sign up for My Account,” it said. “The perks are ape-solutely a-peeling!”
In deleting the tweet, the CRA said it “could be taken out of context.”
In 2020, the CRA posted: “Think you gotta spend your cash? You don’t! Some of our certified tax software don’t cost a thing.” The tweet was later deemed inappropriate and deleted.
“As the Agency neither owns nor produces tax software it was determined use of the word ‘our’ could be misleading,” said the explanation. “Further, it was determined it may not be appropriate to promote free software exclusively among all the tax software solutions available to taxpayers.”
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