Tag Archives: alerts

The UK’s emergency alerts system is expected to cost up to £25.3 million in its first three years, the government has confirmed, after previously declining to give any figure.

Last month, in the run-up to and following the nationwide test of the system on Sunday 23 April, we saw lots of false and misleading claims circulating on social media, including that it would track your location, would breach GDPR and was subcontracted to the company founded by Rishi Sunak’s father-in-law.

We also saw unevidenced claims circulating on social media about the likely cost. Many claimed the test alone would cost £22 million, with this figure being shared hundreds of times on Twitter and Facebook. (The Daily Mail previously reported that the whole system would cost £22…

We’ve been asked by several of our readers about claims that the UK’s emergency alert system, which was tested on Sunday, was “created by” or “subcontracted to” Infosys, the Indian multinational IT company founded by Rishi Sunak’s father-in-law.

This is not true. A government spokesperson told Full Fact: “This is completely untrue – there are no connections with Infosys in the running of the Emergency Alerts system.”

A spokesperson for Infosys also said: “Infosys has not been involved, directly or indirectly, in the creation of the UK government emergency alert system.”

The claim has also gone viral on Twitter, perhaps most notably shared by the Twitter account for fictional comedic news reporter Jonathon Pie.

So let me just get this…