May 04, 2023
Plug-in offers decoronation option
A Māori artist has come up with a cheeky internet browser plug-in that blocks royal gossip and replaces it with indigenous news.
King Charles will be officially crowned on Saturday night – New Zealand time – but online platforms are already full of royal news.
Hamiora Bailey says it took him a week to develop Pikari Mai, which redirects users of Firefox and Google Pro browsers away from anything with words like ‘coronation’, ‘charles’ or ‘king’.
Businesses have supported the tongue-in-cheek project by donating billboards, a radio ad, and even posters to promote Pikari Mai.
“We got it just because people believed in the whakaaro I guess and I think because we kept it fun and playful, and I think people want to see that, Maori especially – we deserve to enjoy how we define ourselves – so yeah that’s how we got it, it was all donated – which is so crazy,” Mr Bailey says.
He says while many Kiwis love royal news – others don’t – and the Pikari Mai plug-in is for them.