Halifax municipal accounts leave X, prompting questions about emergency communications
Halifax Fire is leaving the social network X and shifting to Bluesky.
The Halifax Regional Municipality has officially launched accounts on the social media platform Bluesky – and will soon be leaving X, formerly Twitter, prompting questions about emergency communications.
The primary HRM account, Halifax Fire & Emergency and Halifax Public Libraries are among six accounts making the switch. They will be inactive on X by July 14.
While emergency municipal alerts (hfxALERT) are separate from social media, public safety and emergency communication are key focus areas for any government considering changing its social media presence, too.
'It's very top of mind, in fact, it's the primary and the first consideration when they start talking about what platforms to use,' says Giles Crouch, a digital anthropologist who is working with cities across Canada and the U.S. that are considering different platforms.
'The number one thing is, 'What do we do in emergencies and what platform works?''
That's why some emergency organizations are sticking with the status quo.
Halifax Regional Police, Halifax Water and Halifax Public Libraries are all excluded from the move, the municipality said in a news release on Wednesday, as 'they each have unique governance structures, oversight boards and their own communications teams.'
'I think it would be a little irresponsible for us to switch to a new platform at this point in time,' Halifax Regional Police Const. Martin Cromwell told CTV News Atlantic on Thursday.
Halifax Regional Police
A Halifax Regional Police shoulder badge is pictured. (Source: Callum Smith/CTV News Atlantic)
That's because a lot of the force's social media usage is for public safety messaging, and he says they don't want to leave behind nearly 140,000 X followers.
'For us to switch from this platform, our current platform, may be damaging to people,' he says. 'They may not get that messaging.'
In April, city councillors voted 16-to-one in favour of cutting ties with its X as an official social media platform.
'It's a decision that was taken as a result of public input that was gathered‚' says Mayor Andy Fillmore. 'It was also a part of a scan of other jurisdictions, and I'm supportive of it. X has become a bit of a gnarly place.'
Councillor David Hendsbee was the lone dissenting vote.
'It's just political backlash that people have become very populist about,' he says. 'I just felt that, even though the Twitter was bought up by Elon Musk and renamed or rebranded X, it's still a very popular platform a lot of people are using.'
All municipal accounts – except for Halifax police, Halifax Water, and Halifax Public Libraries – will be removed from X by July 14.
The municipality and Halifax Fire both refused an interview Thursday, instead offering a statement.
The union representing Halifax firefighters says it will still use X, as it's been a 'very effective tool for us in engaging people on public safety issues.'
In a statement to CTV News Atlantic, the provincial government says its goal is to reach as many people as possible.
'We recognize that some Nova Scotians are leaving X, but at this time we are maintaining our X account to ensure we aren't leaving anyone behind,' says Alyse Hand, a spokesperson with the Executive Council Office. 'This is especially important for emergency situations where we want to use all communications platforms available.'
Crouch says there are fewer bots on Bluesky, as it's 'harder to be automated and run the bots' when compared to X.
'It is becoming increasingly difficult to determine what is real and what isn't, especially as we see improvements with artificial intelligence creating videos and images as well,' Crouch says.
Halifax City Hall
Halifax City Hall is pictured. (Source: Callum Smith/CTV News Atlantic)
For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Problems persist for those needing before and after school childcare
Parents were promised the system for signing kids up for before and after school care was fixed, but as CTV's Spencer Turcotte reports, there's still uncertaint
CTV News
5 hours ago
- CTV News
Southern Alberta wildlife team played a key role at the G7 Summit
As the 2025 G7 Leaders Summit took place in Kananaskis, a team was working behind the scenes to keep animals at bay. Quinn Keenan reports.
CTV News
8 hours ago
- CTV News
National Indigenous Peoples Day celebration sees large youth turnout
WATCH: Although the official day is on Saturday, there were multiple events on Friday to celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day. Damian Smith has more. While National Indigenous Peoples Day is on Saturday, several events were held in Regina on Friday for residents to celebrate the heritage, cultures, and achievements of First Nations, Inuit and Métis people. A big theme of this year's gathering was the education of youth and children, and for them to see Indigenous culture at an early age before learning in later grade school years. 'It's such an important day to be celebrating,' Minister of Parks, Culture, and Sport Alana Ross said. 'Having the children here from the schools, the interaction, giving them the opportunity to learn about art history and the importance of it and the interactive games, that they have was just amazing.' For Mother Teresa Middle School, educators who are Indigenous know that days like Friday are needed for representation and inclusion. 'Our students can see themselves in me,' said Evan Whitestar, who is an Indigenous advocate at the school. 'So, it makes it easier for them to come to the school and work. Education has had a tough history in Canada and that's a good way to mend the bridge and have some representation in the hallway.' The Buffalo Boys from Mother Theresa Middle School, along with youth dancers, performed a powwow dance at the event. For the second stop of the day, children spent some time at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, practicing the culture by taking part in making friendship bracelets, bison hunting and atlatl throwing. 'The younger we can learn it and the more we can expose our children to that, the better we will be as a culture and as a society,' Ross said. 'It's just wonderful to see the teachers who have taken the time, because it's a lot of work to bring your students here.' To many attending, Friday's edition of National Indigenous Peoples Day felt like the largest gathering that they had ever been a part of in Regina's history. There are a few more events planned elsewhere in the province on Saturday.
