Elon Musk apologizes after Twitter mislabels Norwegian foreign ministry account as 'Nigeria government organization'

• Elon Musk has apologized after Twitter labeled three official Norwegian government accounts as Nigerian.

• Norway's foreign ministry alerted Twitter to the mistake on Wednesday in a tweet.

Twitter's owner, Elon Musk, has apologized for a widely mocked gaffe in which three official Norwegian government accounts were mislabeled as "Nigeria government" organizations and officials.

Norway's foreign ministry alerted the platform to the mistake on Wednesday.

In a tweet directed at Twitter support, representatives for Norway's foreign ministry tweeted: "As much as we enjoy our excellent bilateral relations and close alphabetical vicinity with Nigeria, we would much appreciate if you could label us as Norway."

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They added that Norway's prime minister and foreign minister had also been mislabeled.

Musk responded to the tweet on Wednesday and apologized for the error but didn't elaborate on why it had occurred.

The tweet was widely shared on the platform, gaining more than 170K likes as Twitter users mocked the mistake. The foreign ministry account has since been labeled correctly as a "Norwegian government organization."

Since taking over the platform, Elon Musk has changed his mind about how he plans to label official accounts after offering Twitter's blue verified ticks to all users for a fee.

Twitter previously introduced gray official badges before seemingly removing those from the platform. Now brands and official accounts appear to have a gold tick.

Government figures and organizations had the extra gray label below their name before Musk took over Twitter.

Insider contacted Twitter for comment but did not immediately hear back.