CNN was condemned and mocked Tuesday on Twitter after users of the cable news network’s app received dozens of push notifications for an updated story on the false ballistic missile alert that went out in Hawaii earlier this month.
Is anyone else getting 538,290 push notifications from @CNN right now?
— Caleb James (@CalebJamesKOB) January 30, 2018
Twitter users immediately pointed out the humorous coincidence of the alert announcing new information on the false missile alert.
Congrats to the guy who got fired for sending Hawaii’s false missile alert on his new job as CNN’s push-alert director!
— Brett LoGiurato (@BrettLoGiurato) January 30, 2018
Omg @CNN, cool it with the push notifications on the Hawaii story. While I appreciate the irony of re-sending the same push about a technology error in a tech-error stream, I’m three seconds from throwing my phone across the room.
(Alert received 6x while composing this tweet)
— Maggie Gordon (@MagEGordon) January 30, 2018
This CNN news alert that keeps coming up every 5 seconds and wont go away.. pic.twitter.com/O0BTguwqIF
— Dave Dick (@DavidPDick) January 30, 2018
CNN’s communications team put out a statement suggesting there was an problem with Apple News and said they are working to identify the issue.
We are aware that some Apple News users recently received multiples of the same alert. Our server log shows CNN sent only one. We are working with Apple to identify their issue, as users on CNN-owned platforms did not experience a problem. Apologies to those who did.
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) January 30, 2018
The story being pushed included new details into the FCC investigation surrounding the false missile alert in Hawaii, which included a report that the employee who sent the alert believed there was a legitimate missile attack underway.
