People in Missouri reported experiencing similar problems in July 2023, when the Missouri Highway Patrol send another Amber Alert push notification with a link to X post. Locals were similarly vocal about not being able to see the alert unless they logged into the platform. “It's a pretty big change” from how the warnings worked, said Lt. Eric Brown of the Missouri Highway Patrol, who works in the public information and education division. before.
But the incident did not ultimately cause the Missouri Highway Patrol to abandon X as the go-to platform for Amber Alert push notifications. According to Brown, when we”.
Several official California Highway Patrol X accounts have the same verification badge as the Missouri Highway Patrol, including one dedicated to disseminating active warnings statewide. However, it appears that not all of the California agency's accounts are verified, including What does it look like? Official channel of the CHP's Southern Division, which includes Los Angeles County.
When it was also known as Twitter, X was widely viewed as an essential part of the global disaster and emergency communications infrastructure. Government officials and agencies around the world rely on the service as a way to spread information about hurricanes, mass shootings and other crises. Before Musk took over the platform in 2022, anyone could view public tweets in their browser regardless of whether they had an account on the site or installed Twitter's mobile app. (In 2015, the company reported that more than 500 million people visit Twitter every month without logging in.)
In June 2023, it was reported that X had start blocking content behind the login screen start to appear online. At that time, Musk call the move was a “temporary emergency measure” imposed because X “received so much data that it degraded the quality of service.” It's unclear what exactly Musk was referring to, but that same month, Mr expressed concern about AI companies like OpenAI allegedly deleting Twitter posts without prior permission.
Now it seems the decision to make X a more closed platform has stuck. According to tests conducted this week, X continued to limit what people without accounts could see. For example, WIRED looked at X number of accounts of its staff reporters without logging in and could only see a sample of their popular posts instead of a full chronological feed. face. It appears that accounts run by government entities are not restricted in this way; All posts shared by the California Highway Patrol alert account are viewable without logging in.
In addition to allowing people to view content shared on the platform, another way Twitter has previously helped emergency contacts is by giving them free access to its API, which That Musk has revoked. That thing authorized organization like the US National Tsunami Warning Center, which sends automatic warnings about potentially deadly natural disasters. Researchers and first responders can also use the API to monitor activity on Twitter and “extract important insights, such as identifying risk hotspots,” Hughes said. or fight misinformation.” “The role of the platform has changed as policies and public uses have evolved, so its effectiveness today may look quite different.”
Despite these limitations, X remains an important platform for relaying information in emergency situations. In October, some government information officers urgently told PRWeek they plan to continue posting updates about body to reach as many people as possible. But the incident in California this week highlights how problematic it can be for government agencies when third-party services were once deemed trustworthy but then change their policies in light of these changes. unpredictable way.