cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/19124166
Social media giant Meta blocked or hid Facebook search results for “Cyclone Alfred” ahead of the tropical storm bearing down on Australia’s east coast.
The platform is a key communication channel for emergency coverage in Australia and is used to help broadcast evacuation orders and other updates to residents during a crisis.
Tropical Cyclone Alfred is expected to make landfall between the Gold Coast and southern parts of Wide Bay region as early as Thursday evening as a category two cyclone.
It is forecast to bring destructive winds and the risk of life-threatening flooding.
But general searches about cyclones or “TC Alfred” did produce information and articles in the search results, indicating some kind of throttling about the term Cyclone Alfred specifically.
[…]
The Queensland government has urged the community to visit its disaster monitoring website for the most up-to-date information.
Never been in a tropical storm but I have been forced to leave areas ahead of bushfire fronts and to travel close to fire effected areas. I dread the day some extremist nutcase defunds ABC Radio. You can’t always rely on phone reception. A lot of old tech is better. Less distracting. More reliable.
The Battlestar Galactica effect.
I urge people to keep a handheld radio on their shelf with a couple of good batteries in it. Just a speaker and an analogue tuner.
@BlueSquid0741
Better to keep the batteries ‘out’ of the radio, but stored ‘with’ the radio.
If fitted to even a simple device like a torch, pretty much any battery can leak.
If the radio’s battery terminals become corroded from a leaking battery…
…well, it’s not good.
(Please don’t ask me how I know this…)
@shirro