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Brits Frantically Google "What Is the EU" As Brexit Passes

Google search trends reveal some Brits had no clue what they were voting for or what that EU thing was

Jun 24, 2016 21:30 GMT  ·  By
Social media trends for Brexit vote
   Social media trends for Brexit vote

The results are in, and it's now official. The UK has voted to leave the EU, but new data from Google and Twitter reveals that Brits are already regretting their decision, seeming to have realized what their vote meant after the fact, just like a bad hangover.

While the referendum was happening, Google's Trends division reflected the country's quandary the best.

Kind of late to be asking what the EU is, don't you think?

Google has revealed that, during and especially after the referendum, the English, Welsh, Scotish, and Irish were heavily googling questions such as "What is the EU?" "What happens if the pound weakens?" "What if the pound collapses?" and "What will happen if we leave the EU?"

Kind of late to be asking these questions, don't you think? That's probably why some other Brits who realized what was happening also started to search for "Move to Gibraltar" and "Irish passport."

In some of the UK's regions, like Scotland and Wales, users also started to search for information that would tell them if they were forced to leave the EU, even if their region voted to remain. It didn't take long for Scottish officials to announce that they might re-do their previous referendum, during which Scotland voted to remain a part of the UK. The UK's vote to leave the EU has apparently rubbed some Scottish people the wrong way.

#WhatHaveWeDone sums it up the best

On Twitter, things weren't that rosy either, as today, after the results became official, tags like #WhaveHaveWeDone and #NotMyVote are trending in the UK.

Most of the "Leave" campaign was marked by media stories that stoked immigration fears, used a racist and xenophobe approach, and relied on false statistics that have been debunked in the meantime.

The Brexit referendum stirred British nationalism more than it should have in the UK, even leading to the murder of Jo Cox, a British Labour Party politician and a member of the UK Parliament, who was campaigning for the "Remain" option. Cox was killed by an extremist who had proclaimed support for the "Leave" option.

51.9 percent, or 17,410,742 UK citizens, voted to leave the EU while 48.1 percent, or 16,141,241, voted to remain.