NI Twitter fiasco as Amazon ‘apologises for the troubles’ and declares ‘a United Ireland’

The incident arose when a man living in the North contacted Amazon via Twitter because he was unable to view a rugby Autumn Nations Cup match between England and Georgia - Amazon had previously advertised that the Autumn Nations Cup competition was available to watch on Amazon Prime in the United Kingdom.

Despite explicitly telling Amazon that he was in Northern Ireland a customer care worker replied saying: “...upon reviewing your location you’re in Northern Ireland.

“Rugby Autumn Nations Cup coverage is exclusively available to Prime members based in the UK.

“We don’t have the rights to other territories,” replied Amazon on Twitter.

Inevitably, the suggestion by Amazon that Northern Ireland was not part of the United Kingdom gave rise to a tsunami of tweets and retweets from people keen to highlight the multinational’s blunder.

One Twitter user tweeted a photograph of Free Derry Corner but replaced the slogan with ‘You are now entering free delivery’.

“Amazon Prime have delivered a United Ireland, and before 6pm on the same day,” said Irish comedian and presenter, Dara Ó Briain.

Guardian columnist and political activist, Owen Jones said: “Amazon just declared a United Ireland”.

Amazon also drew ridicule when responding to another customer when it said “We apologize for the troubles.

“The Ireland vs Wales and Ireland vs Georgia matches will only be available on Prime Video as a replay, 2 hours after the live broadcast,” said Amazon.

“I don’t think you need to go as far as apologising for The Troubles. No-one blames you for that. Just stick to making sure that next time your social media team realizes that Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom. OK?” said economist Andrew Lilico.

However, one Twitter user tried to cut Amazon some slack.

“How can you expect an American employee to know about an event that happened in another country and named a under a generic word. We live in such a woke time,” said the user.

Amazon apologised for the incident saying: “We apologise for the error in our colleague’s response.

“Our Prime Video subscribers in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK can access and watch the Rugby Autumn Nations Cup on Prime Video as part of their subscription,” Amazon said.