\nElon Musk is charging for automated tweets, making it harder for authorities to warn of extreme weather events <\/p>\n
Elon Musk\u2019s changes to Twitter will hinder the US government\u2019s ability to warn citizens about extreme weather, the US National Weather Service (NWS) said.<\/strong><\/p>\n Twitter recently announced<\/a> it would limit the number of automated tweets that non-paying users can post to 50 in a 24-hour period. To post more will cost each account $100 a month from April 29.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the NWS said that, since 2014, it has auto-posted the latest warnings for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and flash floods on Twitter.<\/p>\n These warnings are seen by emergency managers, the media and people in the path of dangerous weather, they said.<\/p>\n Twitter announced on 3\/29\/23 that it will begin limiting automated tweets. Should this implementation occur, the automated watch\/warning\/advisory graphics shared on this account may not be posted. Have multiple ways to receive weather information and alerts.<\/p>\n \u2014 NWS Austin\/San Antonio (@NWSSanAntonio) March 31, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cWithout this automated process,\u201d the spokesperson added \u201cit would take minutes for forecasters to manually prepare warning information into a tweet. For every warning issued, seconds could make the difference between life and death\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cTwitter informed NWS there are no plans for exemptions,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n Climate Home asked Twitter to confirm this and received an emoji of a human faeces with a face on it. Twitter\u2019s new billionaire owner Elon Musk made this the automatic response to all press enquiries last month.<\/p>\n [email\u00a0protected]<\/a> now auto responds with ????<\/p>\n \u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 19, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Last year, the US was hit<\/a> by tornadoes across the south and south-east, a winter storm across the centre and east of the country and flooding in Missouri and Kentucky.<\/p>\n Twitter\u2019s changes will be rolled out globally and affect any weather service which uses automated tweets.<\/p>\n Khan Rahaman is an assistant professor at Saint Mary\u2019s University in Canada and has studied how social media is used during of cyclones in Bangladesh.<\/p>\n He told Climate Home: \u201cThe limit will not do any good for early warning.\u201d<\/p>\n Migrant workers<\/strong> face risks building Europe\u2019s new gas supplies in the UAE<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Scientists have highlighted the importance of social media, and Twitter in particular, in disseminating warnings about climate disasters and saving lives.<\/p>\n An IPCC scientific report<\/a> found that \u201ctimely access\u201d to early warnings through social media, radio and text messages \u201ccan be crucial to respond and mitigate the impacts of emergencies such as floods and drought\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cAmong the various forms of social media, Twitter is widely used as a social sensor to detect what is happening in a disaster event\u201d it added.<\/p>\n A 2020 study<\/a> found that two-thirds of survey recipients in eastern India had seen warnings about Cyclone Amphan on social media including Twitter, Facebook and Whatsapp.<\/p>\n Moves to crystallise<\/strong> right to a healthy environment spark tension at UN<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cSocial media played an important role in disseminating pre-cyclone warnings and information on post-cyclone relief work\u201d during cyclone Amphan, the IPCC report found.<\/p>\n NWS has advised people to check their website,<\/a> listen to the radio, watch television and look for alerts from local or county emergency management agency.<\/p>\n Asked why they are not paying for automated tweets, an NWS spokesperson declined to answer, saying: \u201cOur statement and pinned tweets on our forecast office twitter accounts speak to the way forward on our part\u201d.<\/p>\n\n
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