As the world media gears up for the coronation of King Charles, Māori artist Hamiora Bailey has developed an internet browser plugin to filter out news and gossip about the Royal Family and replace it with indigenous and local news.
Bailey said he's not an anti-royalist but just saw the opportunity for the service for those who have had enough of the royal affairs.
Buckingham Palace is gearing up for the crowning of the new King, and while there's been plenty of royal fanfare over the years from documentaries and books to exclusive interviews, some are wanting to avoid this week's coronation in their newsfeeds - and they are in luck.
Bailey has developed a web browser plugin that will literally unplug the royals.
"It's for everybody to enjoy and in particular what's going on in your neighbourhood."
The plug-in works by scanning web pages for keywords and visuals relating to the Royal Family. The royal content is then removed and replaced by articles sourced from multiple indigenous publishers.
"We can all understand the institution at play. It is the Crown and I think, more recently, we've seen on Netflix and, you know, through media it is a PR machine. And so I think that's more about what I am trying to say is actually we deserve to define who we are out in the motu and how we are received, and we deserve as much coverage as that institution, if not more."
So Newshub asked people in Ponsonby if they were interested in the coronation.
"Oh yeah, the Royal Family, they're crumbling, aye," said one.
"I'm really interested in the coronation."
"it doesn't change my daily life so why bother?" said another.
The tool is available on Firefox and soon on Chrome and Safari.
"Yeah, I don't really care," one local told Newshub.
"I don't really care for the King's coronation but having the tool for indigenous news and so forth will be very helpful."
"We come from an indigenous country so I'd like to see other cultural stuff on the news."
A whole new way of unplugging all that noise about the royals.
