On Sunday, June 12, Facebook accidentally declared the Philippines at war by displaying an Independence Day banner with inverted colors on the Philippine flag.
Facebook's banner says: "Happy Independence Day! Here's to all of the Philippines' health, happiness and prosperity." But unfortunately, social media network's good intentions were canceled by an error in the banner's design.
According to The Verge, the banned created by Facebook unfortunately suggested that the country is at war. The Philippine Star reports that the image of the Philippine flag featured by Facebook had an inverted color scheme, with blue on the bottom and red on top.
During peacetime, the Philippine's flag is flown with blue on top and red on the bottom, according to law. The inverted configuration displayed by Facebook's banner should only be displayed during times of war.
Users of Facebook social media network were greeted with the banner at the top of their News Feeds. Many have pointed out the error. Filipino citizens were quick to inform the social media network about the mistake.
The majority of commentaries have been asking Facebook to correct its error. Many Filipinos were posting on Twitter, Facebook and other social media networks requesting an apology.
The Official Gazette of the Republic of Philippines reacted to the incident by posting a picture that shows the correct ways to display the flag. Since the banner was designed as a celebration of the Philippines Independence Day, the mistake has been doubly awkward.
The social media network later removed the Independence Day greetings, but its mistake was far from forgotten. According to CNET, Facebook also issued an apology soon after acknowledging the mistake. The company said in a statement that they are sorry and explained that the mistake was unintentional.
This is not the first time the Philippine flag has been incorrectly hung upside down. The U.S. government mistakenly displayed the inverted Philippine's flag at a meeting hosted by president Barack Obama in 2010.
