London: The BBC, on Friday, was forced into crisis control mode to reassure freaked out Britons, after an alert in Bengali set off alarm bells, making many wonder if the organisation was hacked by the ISIS.
According to reports, subscribers to BBC’s alert services received an alert in Bengali after a technical error linked a report from its Bengali service.
The alert, which caused so much flutter, pertained to a police raid in Mirpur on a militant hideout, killing one.
But all hell broke loose when puzzled users, unable to comprehend the message, jumped to conclusions, taking to Twitter, wondering if BBC has been taken over by ISIS hackers.
“Just got a BBC news flash on my phone. In Arabic. I’m in Oxfordshire. Has IS grabbed control or something??,” one user wrote, while many others expressed similar wonder.
To put matters to rest, the organisation was forced to come out with a tweet, clarifying the incident.
“Apologies to anyone who received a @bbcbreaking alert from our Bengali service. Don’t worry, we weren’t hacked,” the organisation tweeted.
Pointing out the ‘western ignorance’, one user wrote, “One BBC news article in BENGALI and the internet freaks out about ISIS. Western ignorance exmeplified.”
