When an Amber Alert went out about a missing Los Angeles teen, Californians hit a roadblock: they couldn’t see the crucial details unless they logged into X.  The California Highway Patrol had linked the alert to a post on its official X account, a practice adopted in 2018.

Sergeant Dan Keane of the CHP told WIRED, “We’re looking into it,” acknowledging the agency’s awareness of the issue. The CHP has reached out to X for clarification, but X has not responded to requests for comment.

Californians took to social media to express their anger, with one Reddit user saying, “This should be illegal and everyone should be upset about this. If that alert was for my child and tons of people couldn’t see it because they don’t have a stupid X account, I would be beyond infuriated.”

Amanda Lee Hughes, a computer science professor at Brigham Young University, emphasized the importance of accessibility in emergency communications. “Everyone should be able to access life-critical information, regardless of whether they use a specific platform,” she said.

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This is not an isolated incident. Missouri experienced a similar problem in July 2023. The situation was resolved when X verified the Missouri Highway Patrol’s account as an official government entity.

Despite X’s issues, many agencies continue to use it because they’ve already built up large audiences on the platform.

The situation highlights the challenges faced by government agencies relying on third-party platforms for emergency communications.

Read more at Wired