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On Monday, several million Swedish mobile subscribers received an SMS signed by the Swedish Public Health Agency and the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB).
The message was quickly the subject of a series of harsh reactions.
In the SMS, the recipient is encouraged to visit the Krisinformation.se website for changes in the country’s crown council. The local councils then cease and are replaced by national regulations and general councils.
He writes, among others, the Swedish newspaper Expressen.
The message does not contain a link to the site. It makes react, among others, to Hanif Bali of the moderates.
– Other countries: digital infection tracking, find accumulations of infections via PGS, measure proximity via bluetooth, send citation samples when you have been near an infected person, write in Twitterand continues:
– Sweden: SMS without link.
For Expressen, MSB communications director Morgan Olofsson justifies it with the fact that a link would allow scammers to send identical messages with their own harmful links.
– PR-triks
The measure is also regularly sacrificed by Swede Paul Ronge, an expert in crisis communication. He accuses the Swedish health authorities of being confusing.
– The fact is that we do what we please. This is still just advice. And then it will be a huge blow in the air, it will be a PR stunt of the worst kind to send it here, he tells Aftonbladet.
He characterizes the whole thing as “almost pathetic”, and believes that the mass broadcast is mostly “about showing action.”
– If you send a message to 22 million phones, you expect it to contain something new or important. And you don’t get it, it’s “the same, the same” in a slightly higher key. It doesn’t improve just because it goes up in falsetto, or because the prime minister is sitting on television with a lit candle in front of him.
Strong increase in infection in Skien: – Hard message
Discouraged message
The leader Torbjörn Sjöström of the Swedish research agency Novus asks if the health authorities do not trust the media.
– Is SMS just another turn to generate interest? I really don’t understand, write Twitter.
According to SVT Programs internal MSB documents that repeatedly asked if it was correct to send the SMS.
Rikskringkasteren writes that both MSB and the information site Krisinformation, on the contrary, advised against such mass text messages.
The advice must, among other things, be justified by the fact that the regulation of the so-called VMAs (“important message to the public”, important message to the public, editor’s note) presupposes a risk of immediate harm to life and health .
Believe in more speculation
– May damage emergency services
A November 6 document presents a number of arguments against such a solution, according to SVT. Among other things, the risk of mobile network overload and the blocking of other notification messages are mentioned.
Also, he cautions against doing anything that might give the impression that the framework for such messages is being expanded. The fear is that “the system will be undermined in the long term, which could damage emergency preparedness.”
– An incident that in the future does not generate such an SMS can therefore be interpreted as less serious or unimportant, writes MSB according to Aftonbladet.
The bottom line is that these messages are not recommended.
SVT also writes that several people react to the fact that the message is sent only in one language and that people who do not read Swedish may miss important information.
This is one of several moments that stand out in a storm on social media, writes the national broadcaster.
– Tegnell’s theory does not agree
Answer
Across from Expressen, Morgan Olofsson, MSB’s director of communications, says the authority has confidence in the work of the media and that SMS should be viewed as one of several information measures.
– On behalf of the government, we have sent this SMS, on the occasion of the new measures. But it is not the only channel of information, the intention is that it be additional to the previous communication, he says.
It also clarifies the message no should be considered as a VMA.
– This message is not a VMA, but a regular SMS that the telephone operators have voluntarily chosen to send us, he tells Aftonbladet, adding that there have been no problems with the network.
The Public Health Authority also responds to parts of the criticism on its website. They write, among other things, that health authorities have special communication measures aimed at children and groups who do not read Swedish, in collaboration with schools and the Authority for the Support of Religious Communities.
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