For years, Twitter — now called X — has been the most popular platform for Japan’s municipalities to use when sending out real-time information during natural disasters, with posts ranging from weather warnings and shelter locations to where people can get supplies.
But that may not be the case anymore.
A growing number of prefectures in southern Japan, often impacted by heavy rains and typhoons during the summer, have stopped posting disaster warnings on their accounts due to limits on the number of free posts allowed — a restriction caused by changes in X’s features.
They are now relying more on other communication methods such as email, the Line messaging app, their official website, and the L-Alert system, which shares information to media outlets who broadcast it to citizens.
“The problem was not on our side, but rather, the information could no longer be sent due to restrictions imposed by X, formerly Twitter, due to changes in their specifications,” said Masanori Tokimatsu, the head of information and communication at Kumamoto Prefecture’s disaster prevention system.
Free accounts on X are now restricted to 1,500 tweets a month. But Kumamoto officials realized there was another restriction — up to 50 tweets per 24 hours. Since there are 45 cities, villages and towns in the prefecture, with each requiring disaster warning posts for their area, the 50-tweet quota would quickly be used up.
Kumamoto officials feared warnings that failed to be posted on X could cause a significant burden on its internal communication system, which may affect posts on other social media and its website, leaving them with no choice but to stop posting on X since July 5.
Kagoshima — another prefecture in the Kyushu region — still posts disaster information on X. But they have stopped using X’s service that enables them to automatically send out heavy rainfall warnings and landslide disaster advisories whenever the Meteorological Agency issues a warning.
“We used to be able to automatically distribute such information, but since we can no longer do so, we have to post the information manually in order of urgency,” said Kazuya Abe, an official at Kagoshima Prefecture's disaster countermeasures division.
Fukuoka is also among prefectures that have stopped posting on X following changes to its specification.
However, none of the prefectures have reported any issues or complaints from citizens since they stopped sharing information or changed the way they post on their X accounts.
For one, X is not the only platform prefectures use to disseminate disaster-related information. In addition to using Line and their website, some prefectures also have their own smartphone app for use during disasters.
Fukuoka Prefecture has its own app called Mamoru-kun, and Kumamoto Prefecture uses a disaster prevention app managed by Yahoo Japan.
Kumamoto’s Tokimatsu is open to the idea of using Threads — a Twitter-like platform launched by Meta — if the platform offers services similar to those formerly provided by X.
“If the number of users increases, and if it is effective for disaster prevention, I think we can talk about using Threads as well,” Tokimatsu said. “But we are not there yet.”
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