Money-seeking changes to the X platform, formerly Twitter, hindered many local governments in Japan from sending evacuation information to residents during heavy rainfalls this summer.

Some of these governments are now considering alternatives to X, which had proved effective in spreading information after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

In February, X said it would charge a fee for its Application Programming Interface (API) that links X to external systems and enables automated posts on the platform.

API had previously been largely free of charge.

The new pricing plan announced at the end of March allows for up to 1,500 posts per month for free.

Exceeding this limit necessitates a subscription to either a $100 (14,800 yen) plan or a $5,000 plan, depending on the number of API connections.

Many local governments have used API for automated postings during natural disasters. And local government posts this year have quickly hit the free limit when typhoons approach.

During flooding in July, the Kumamoto prefectural government had to stop sending out information on X.

“We quickly reached the limit since we automatically posted information about evacuation centers,” said the chief of the prefecture’s information and communications division.

After Elon Musk acquired Twitter in 2022, he slashed the work force and made multiple changes to push subscription services.

Several glitches have also occurred.

Many accounts of municipalities and public organizations in Japan were frozen, including that of the Hanamaki city government in Iwate Prefecture in July.

The freeze was later lifted, but no clear explanation was given.

In response to the confusion, X’s official Japanese account said on Aug. 15 that the government and public institutions could freely use API for disaster information.

The Kumamoto prefectural government and others resumed posting.

However, other entities have also used X to disseminate disaster information.

Special service agency Nerv, which has 1.95 million followers, began sending out disaster information soon after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Information security company Gehirn Inc., which operates Nerv, subscribed to X’s $100 monthly plan. It reached the posting cap on Aug. 1 and was no longer able to automatically deliver information.

On Aug. 7, Gehirn decided to suspend posts from Nerv about power outages and evacuation information that require frequent updates.

Daiki Ishimori, the president of Gehirn, said he is not considering changing to the $5,000 monthly plan because it is too expensive.

Twitter had been seen as the go-to site for disaster information in Japan since the Great East Japan Earthquake.

“This is because (X) is more open to a large number of people than other social media platforms, and its functions are simple and user-friendly,” said Shosuke Sato, an associate professor of informatics at Tohoku University.

Sato’s team asked 1,250 people who experienced earthquakes or torrential rains between 2016 and 2020 about their sources of information at the time. Roughly 70 percent said television, while 20 to 40 percent said Twitter.

“Many people rely on TV and radio at times of disaster, but X is easy to use to call for immediate evacuations after a disaster and to share the locations of evacuation centers,” Sato said.

“Posting restrictions and freezes could occur again on X. We should have more than one medium for sending out information,” he said.

Some municipalities and companies are exploring alternatives.

The Osato town government in Miyagi Prefecture set up a Line account and is also considering developing a dedicated app to relay disaster information.

Gehirn now primarily sends out information through its disaster prevention app. Created in 2019, the app has been downloaded 3.8 million times so far.

Yahoo Japan Corp. is also focusing on sending information via its Yahoo! Japan Disaster Alert app, which was released in 2011.

The app has been downloaded more than 50 million times, and it also distributes information from 1,500 cooperating municipalities.

(This article was written by Shiori Tabuchi and Naoko Murai.)