County Emergency Alerts Moving to Truth Social Premium
Notices still available to non-subscribers by FOIA request
County Courthouse—Following unsuccessful trial runs on a variety of potential emergency alert systems, county officials are finalizing plans to move all critical notices to Truth Social’s Truth Premium service.
Starting on June 1st, officials say residents will need to have their Truth Social accounts set up, in good standing, and subscribed to the Truth Patriot Package to receive critical updates about weather, AMBER alerts, boil orders, waste pickup, and more.
“It used to be that people were outside and working, so the sirens used to be the best way to reach them,” said county spokesperson Mark Stephens. “We need to find them where they are, and that seems to be inside on Truth Social.”
The decision process wasn’t easy, Stephens said, as the county was dedicated to making the siren system work.
“When the weather got iffy, we would typically test the sirens to make sure they were ready to go if things got worse,” he explained. “People would call in a huff, so we’d mute the system for 12 hours. Inevitably, that would be when they wanted to hear them. We couldn’t win.”
The county did explore broadcasting on more traditional media, but acknowledged that residents from all walks of life have very different tastes in where they get their news.
“In these changing times, we want to be fair to all our people, whether they like to watch Fox News, Newsmax, or even read the Wall Street Journal,” Stephens said.
Residents will be responsible for their own subscription fees, but Stephens said this comes with the added benefit of Truth Plus, the app’s dedicated streaming platform for “non-woke” content.
“Anybody unhappy with that has to be from the liberal media,” Stephens speculated. “They’re welcome to get their information through a court order like usual.”
Follow The Southern Illinois Chronicle for more court-ordered news coverage.