Hawaii governor couldn't correct false missile alert because he forgot his Twitter login

  • 24/01/2018
Governor of Hawaii David Ige.
Governor of Hawaii David Ige. Photo credit: Getty

The governor of Hawaii has revealed the reason he didn't correct the now-infamous false missile alert sooner - he didn't know his Twitter login details.

On the morning of January 13, Hawaiian residents were accidentally sent an official text alert from the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (EMA) telling them a missile was approaching the island.

While rumours the threat was false began circulating on social media immediately, there was no official confirmation from the government until a tweet from the Governor's account was posted 17 minutes later.

During his annual 'State of the State address' on Monday (local time), governor David Ige avoided mentioning the missile alert crisis until reporters brought it up.

When asked about the government's slow response, Mr Ige said he was told that the alert was false just two minutes after it was sent.

However it took him another quarter of an hour to tweet a simple five-word sentence. The reason, he told media, was somewhat embarrassing.

"I have to confess that I don't know my Twitter account log-ons and the passwords, so certainly that's one of the changes that I've made," he said.

Mr Ige also failed to post a correction to his official Facebook page until 23 minutes after the alert was sent. He didn't specify whether this was because he didn't know his Facebook login details either.

He told media he now has his Twitter details saved onto his phone.

Hawaiians who don't use or regularly check social media were left in limbo even longer, until a second text alert was sent out 38 minutes after the original warning.

It has since been discovered that the initial missile alert was sent out by an EMA employee who accidentally selected the wrong drop-down option.

Newshub.