IF you were a Tory Prime Minister, keen to tout the advantages of “innovation” on economic growth, it might be a good idea to make sure the technology works on the website you’re pushing it on.
Rishi Sunak would discover this on Monday, after scores of Twitter users flooded the comments section on one of his posts, pointing out that anyone using the mobile app was unable to scan the QR code he shared.
The array of black and white squares, which can be scanned by a mobile phone camera and then directs the user to a link, became widely used during the Covid-19 pandemic.
READ MORE: Emma Harper has email privileges suspended after breaking SNP rules
However, as the overwhelming majority of people use the Twitter mobile app, 80% compared to those who use the desktop website version, dozens of users trolled the PM pointing this out.
One user joked: “Could you fax this over to me so I can scan it on my phone?”
Another added: “Bro you're gonna lose your mind when you learn about hyperlinks.”
Innovation means growth📱 pic.twitter.com/eFuXUMdc9O
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) March 6, 2023
One user tweeted: “Own goal. Can't f***n scan the thing if you are seeing it on your own phone.”
While another joked: “How exactly is it ‘innovation’ when I now have to go and get my wife’s phone and then point it at my own one to see where this QR code leads to?
“You lot really couldn’t organise a sausage roll in a Greggs.”
READ MORE: SNP TUG tells leadership hopefuls to answer to 'ten key questions'
One said simply: “Innovation is posting something that’s been around for decades but can’t actually be used in the format you’ve provided it.”
And The Jouker would argue that if Sunak was hoping to sing the praises of British innovation, it probably wasn’t the best idea to use a product designed by a Japanese company in 1994.
The Jouker did attempt to scan the code, which takes the user to a black page with the Number 10 logo in the background, and “Prime Minister’s Announcement” in bold letters.
At first, the link did not allow us to view what appears to be an Augmented Reality (AR) animation, either on mobile or desktop.
When we finally did get it working, it was a less than one-minute-long slideshow with phrases like "science superpower" which apparently "creates jobs, economic growth, for the people of the UK".
One user described the animation as “genuinely dreadful” and said it resembled something designed on Microsoft paint.
Well, that’s certainly innovative.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here