Last week Japan had a major earthquake that had a magnitude of 7.6 and caused Tsunami warnings. Now that’s bad. But what’s worse is that NERV which puts out warnings about natural disasters that Japanese citizens rely upon was hindered for about three hours or so by Twitter’s API limits:
“Our accounts appear to have been rate-limited due to the frequent posting of information updates regarding the Ishikawa Earthquake and Tsunami,” NERV’s English-language Twitter/X account posted just over two hours after the earthquake. Rate limits are restrictions on the number of posts an account can make within a set time period.
NERV also shared a similar message on its Japanese account, advising people to download its app for realtime updates instead.
Fortunately, NERV later stated that Twitter/X had reached out to urgently register both its Japanese and English-language accounts as “Public Utility” accounts, “resolving the issue of API rate-limiting.” Unfortunately, this fix reportedly came almost three hours after NERV said it was first rate-limited, leaving a significant window where it was unable to share potentially lifesaving information about the ongoing disaster.
This is another example of how far Twitter has fallen. In the past, Twitter used to be the go to place for real time events and information. But thanks to Elon Musk’s desire to destroy the platform, this is no longer the case. What this example illustrates is that government agencies around the world need to find alternate means to communicate with their citizens. Because it’s clear that Twitter is no longer fit for that purpose. And that could cost lives if it hasn’t already.
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This entry was posted on January 3, 2024 at 9:05 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Twitter’s API Limits Hinders Japan From Warning Their Citizens Of Natural Disasters
Last week Japan had a major earthquake that had a magnitude of 7.6 and caused Tsunami warnings. Now that’s bad. But what’s worse is that NERV which puts out warnings about natural disasters that Japanese citizens rely upon was hindered for about three hours or so by Twitter’s API limits:
“Our accounts appear to have been rate-limited due to the frequent posting of information updates regarding the Ishikawa Earthquake and Tsunami,” NERV’s English-language Twitter/X account posted just over two hours after the earthquake. Rate limits are restrictions on the number of posts an account can make within a set time period.
NERV also shared a similar message on its Japanese account, advising people to download its app for realtime updates instead.
Fortunately, NERV later stated that Twitter/X had reached out to urgently register both its Japanese and English-language accounts as “Public Utility” accounts, “resolving the issue of API rate-limiting.” Unfortunately, this fix reportedly came almost three hours after NERV said it was first rate-limited, leaving a significant window where it was unable to share potentially lifesaving information about the ongoing disaster.
This is another example of how far Twitter has fallen. In the past, Twitter used to be the go to place for real time events and information. But thanks to Elon Musk’s desire to destroy the platform, this is no longer the case. What this example illustrates is that government agencies around the world need to find alternate means to communicate with their citizens. Because it’s clear that Twitter is no longer fit for that purpose. And that could cost lives if it hasn’t already.
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This entry was posted on January 3, 2024 at 9:05 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.