Emergency services express concern over Twitter’s new restrictions

Emergency services respond to Twitter changes Twitter users may have noticed some changes – emergency services say it could cause problems trying to keep the public informed.

Some emergency services agencies in northern Ontario are reacting to Twitter's decision to limit the number of tweets users can see on a daily basis.

Tech analyst and lawyer Ritesh Kotak told CTV News he doesn't understand why the social media platform decided to make this move.

"The world learned about the fact these tweets were going to be limited in a tweet of all things from Elon Musk and it wasn’t consistent," he said.

Recently, Twitter decided to limit Twitter Blue subscribers and verified accounts to 10,000 and non-paying users to 1,000. This was an increase from previous numbers after the company received negative feedback.

"It started off stating that if you're a subscribed Twitter Blue user, you'll be limited to 6,000 tweets, and that went to then 8,000 and then 10,000 and there were people complaining they couldn’t get tweets on the platform and that’s extremely problematic," said Kotak.

Experts said there were many people who weren't able to view tweets from emergency service agencies.

"What did they not have access to? Emergency alerts through Twitter. Connecting with local community members and politicians on updates, not being able to know the extreme weather alerts happening from coast to coast," said Kotak.

Kaitlyn Dunn Greater Sudbury Police Service's (GSPS) corporate communications supervisor said police use Twitter primarily to communicate with media partners.

"With Twitter and the changes to it, that will impact the media partners as you are viewing multiple tweets throughout the day, and that will cause a concern if there is a limit to the number of tweets that you can access," said explains.

"Which will potentially lock you out from being able to access vital information that’s coming out from organizations."

Dunn said the public usually uses Facebook to GSPS – adding that individuals can sign up for a mailing list if they do not have social media.

In North Bay, police say it uses Alertable, an app, to notify the public. David Woolley, corporate communications officer from North Bay Police Service, said it is a proactive approach to get information out quickly.

"When a situation arises, we can push that information directly to them as a result, so it’s a more proactive versus a passive way of receiving emergency alerts," said Wooley.

Greater Sudbury Utilities said it uses multiple forms of communication to notify the public in the event of a power outage, so representatives told CTV News that the organization is not concerned at this point – but they are monitoring the situation closely.

"While we use Twitter for power outages, we don’t rely on it totally," said Claude Sharma, a marketing and communications specialist with the utility.

"We have other things we use, including Facebook. We post outages on our website, we also have an IVR system, where if people call in, they automatically get to know the outages."