TORONTO -- Canadian Twitter was stuck in the past on Monday night when “#elxn42” became the second most trending phrase on the site.
It is, in fact, the 43rd federal election.
The correct hashtag “#elxn43” was the thirteenth most trending topic, behind other election tags, as well as the Patriots versus Jets NFL game and the new Star Wars movie trailer.
“Perhaps the most bewildering thing about election night so far is that #elxn42 is trending,” wrote one Twitter user.
“Why is #elxn42 trending in #Canada?!” wrote another. “This is #elxn43 my fellow citizens.”
“Are there that many people discussing 2015?” asked another.
A number of verified accounts, including several journalists with thousands of followers, have been using the incorrect hashtag since at least last week to refer to the current election. While many users tweeted the hashtag to refer to the 2015 vote, most tweets Monday incorrectly used it when discussing the current election.
When users began typing hashtags for a tweet using the letters “elxn,” a pop-up menu suggested a number of options to complete the hashtag, including the most popular variations of those words. For many users, “#elxn42” appeared at the top, with the official 2019 hashtag below it.
CTVNews.ca reached out to Twitter for comment but had not received a response at time of writing.
