With the terrorist threat remaining high across France, Gérard Collomb, Minister of State and Minister for the Interior, has called for the most effective and widely used tools to be employed to alert the public to any situation that may pose an immediate danger.
From 1 June 2018, the Ministry of the Interior will be able to rely on major, highly connected organisations to alert the public should the situation require it. The Ministry’s alert and prevention messages will be disseminated primarily via Twitter, Facebook and Google, as well as through certain communication channels operated by the RATP, Vinci Autoroutes, Radio-France and France Télévisions.
In practical terms, Twitter will also ensure that messages from the Ministry of the Interior are given special prominence in the event of a serious crisis, as was the case on 13 November 2015 and 14 July 2016. A special banner may appear at the top of each logged-in user’s timeline to inform them of the situation. At the same time, the Ministry of the Interior is inviting all Twitter users to follow the account and enable notifications. @Beauvau_alerte, which is due to be launched on 1 June and will enable everyone to receive notifications on their mobile phones in the event of a serious incident. The account was created a few hours ago and has already been verified by Twitter.
Facebook’s ‘Safety Check’
Facebook will enable the Home Office to communicate via a communication system linked to its ‘Safety Check’ feature. This feature, launched in 2014, is triggered when an incident poses a threat to the public and allows Facebook users to let their loved ones know that they are safe. Messages from the Ministry of the Interior will therefore gain rapid and high visibility on the “Safety Check” page. This is the first time in Europe that Facebook has allowed public authorities to use this tool for communication. The social network has 35 million active users in France.
For its part, Google will display messages from the Ministry of the Interior on its search engine, via its “Posts on Google” tool, for users searching within the affected area or when the keywords entered by a user are related to the ongoing event. (Terrorist attack, hurricane, shooting, location, etc.).
RATS, Vinci Autoroutes, Radio France...
Finally, RATP, Vinci Autoroutes, France Télévisions and Radio France will also relay the Ministry’s messages via their apps, social media or information boards should the situation require it.
Gérard Collomb, Minister of State and Minister for the Interior, extends his warmest thanks to these partners, who will enable alert and prevention messages to be disseminated more quickly and widely whenever necessary.
These new measures are in addition to those already in place: statements from the authorities, as well as alerts and prevention messages on the Twitter accounts and Facebook pages of the Place Beauvau, the prefectures and the various departments of the Ministry.
End of the SAIP application
The scheme, which will come into force on 1 June, replaces the SAIP mobile scheme, which was launched in May 2016 ahead of the European Football Championship held in France.
Designed to alert the public in the event of an actual or suspected terrorist attack, this app has never attracted the user base that was hoped for.
In practical terms, only those who had downloaded the app could receive the alert messages. As it was not actively used and because of the battery drain it caused, many of the initial users eventually uninstalled it. As a result, only 900,000 people had the app in the summer of 2017, limiting its impact in the event of a crisis.
At an operational level, the system – which has not been activated for a year – has also suffered from malfunctions and decisions regarding whether or not to activate it that have not been understood, thereby undermining its credibility in the eyes of the public.