Apple Isn't Shutting Off the Emergency Alert System

12th January 2021

Apple Isn't Shutting Off the Emergency Alert System

Rumors circulated about the emergency broadcast following the Capitol riot (GettyImages).

The Claim

An iPhone software update from Apple turned off the emergency alert system so President Trump couldn’t text his supporters.

News posted on

Emerging story

In January 2021, following the attack on the U.S. Capitol, rumors began circulating on social media that an Apple software update would remove the emergency alert system on iPhones in an effort to stop President Trump from circulating messages to his supporters.
Users across social media continued to push this claim.

Misbar’s Analysis

The Misbar team has determined that the claim is false. Following the siege at the U.S. Capitol, Amazon Web Services (AWS) removed Parler from its cloud services. We can no longer access the post since it was removed, however, it was reported that pro-Trump attorney Lin Wood stated a claim that in a new software update, Apple would remove access to the Emergency Broadcast System to prevent President Trump from speaking to his supporters.

The heels of Twitter permanently banning the President over the risk of him inciting further violence.

While Apple did ban Parler from its App Store, Apple didn’t eliminate emergency alerts in its most recent update; however, iPhone users are able to turn off the alerts if they so choose and there are no reports of them planning to do so.

The Emergency Broadcast System can be used by the U.S. president in the event of a national emergency.