MTA, NWS, BART, NOAA Twitter Bots Nuked After Elon Musk Tweaks

Powerful, disruptive tsunamis can occur with little advanced warning which makes real-time social media alerts noting their appearance all the more critical. That critical safety measure was put at risk over the weekend. On Friday, the National Weather Service’s tsunami alerts Twitter page said the company had begun limiting its automated tweets which affected its ability to post-tsunami warnings, advisories, watches, and information statements.

“During a #tsunami event, our primary mission is to message our Warning Points through official

@NWS channels,” the NWS wrote. “This serves the most people in the fastest way possible. Social media posts are automated to speed up the posting process until more help can arrive.”

The account encouraged followers to download the NOAA and Fema weather apps to ensure they receive up to date alerts. In extreme cases, the NWS said the Emergency Alert System would issue an alert on television and over radio.

Fortunately for anyone potentially in a tsunami’s path, the tsunami alert page issued an update two days later saying Twitter’s development team had restored its API access.