#Twitter going rogue has much deeper implications than the Musk saga with all of its daily bullshit.

Let's not forget that, before the buffoon oligarch took over, Twitter used to be a place where government and scientific entities used to post (and they still post) information that may be crucial for the population. Twitter used to be the primary place for announcements about earthquakes, eruptions, pandemics, tsunamis, weather alerts, shootings etc.

How does that cope with a reality where external APIs are basically shut down, their unofficial frontend API is no longer working either, viewing is only possible through registered accounts, and even those accounts have a cap on the number of posts that they can consume?

How can a service with such heavy constraints around monetization still be considered a viable way of delivering messages that matter for the whole population?

As an example, one of the few Twitter accounts that I still follow (mirrored on the Fedi) is the one of INGV - the Italian Institute for geology and vulcanology.

I've got my good reasons, as I was born in a city (Naples) that may be soon blown up by the eruption of the largest European supervolcano (Campi Flegrei).

As my parents and relatives are now sitting just 1-2 km above several square km of magma, I obviously follow any updates that the INGV Twitter account posts about earthquakes in the area, with an automated system of alerts in place.

How does that cope with a service that lets users see only a few hundreds of tweets per day, and where you need bullshit like being registered, verified etc. to reliably access the content?

Can you imagine a tsunami alert system in Japan that alerts only those who paid for a platinum alert subscription, and only if they haven't already consumed their budget of 5 yearly alerts?

Twitter must be abandoned RIGHT NOW by any institutional accounts that post stuff that can make the difference between life and death of people.

@blacklight It took many years to build Twitter into what it is today worldwide. It’s not going to be replaced easily. Such a frustrating situation.

@regll I think that at least in Europe we've got a legislative way out. We should clearly state that, if you're a public institute that gets public money to alert the population about critical updates, then you must use publicly available services with open APIs and no paywalls / registration walls.

Public money for public services that operate in the public interest should mean public infrastructure.

@blacklight @regll Using Twitter is already problematic due to GDPR reasons.

I wonder how many privacy statements of e.g. public institutions state that, yes, they publish information on Twitter, but you can view that anonymously because you don't need to be logged in. Clearly wrong now ...

@noybeu, are you already looking into this?

@blacklight @regll They should not post there _exclusively_. If they want tell Facebook or Twitter users about volcanos or tornados or other sever conditions, great - keep people informed and safe. But don't make public safety hinge on subscribing to a private commercial service, even (or especially) if it's touted as "free".
@regll @blacklight Sure is a good thing the tech to replace it easily for alerts predates it and is still functional & mature.