On the evening of June 23, a large number of Xiaomi TV users in Beijing and surrounding areas received earthquake warning messages, although officials stated that there was no earthquake. Xiaomi TV later issued an apology, citing “operational errors during testing”. The incident sparked widespread discussion.
Beijing netizens reported that at 8:15 pm on the 23rd, blue and yellow boxes suddenly appeared on the TV displaying “5.0-magnitude earthquake in Haidian District”, accompanied by a piercing alarm sound. Screenshots shared by some netizens showed a yellow earthquake warning: seismic waves had reached Beijing’s Fangshan district, with an estimated moderate impact, urging caution.
Many Beijing netizens expressed their reactions, with comments like “Watching TV and suddenly there’s an earthquake warning, both of us rushed downstairs without keys, only to find out it was a false alarm. Had to spend 130 yuan to hire a locksmith to unlock the door. Xiaomi TV, I hate you!” “My phone also received the warning, and my whole family ran outside, standing there for a few minutes.” “This is really outrageous, we were so worried at the time, and I immediately forwarded it to friends in Haidian.” “Wrapped in a blanket, we went downstairs, only to find nothing happened.”
Some TV warning interfaces indicated the information source as the “China Earthquake Early Warning Network”, though the network had not actually issued any earthquake alerts.
The earthquake bureau in Haidian District of Beijing responded later, stating that the information was “unofficial”, and they were “verifying the source”. (video link)
Later that night, Xiaomi TV issued an urgent clarification, stating: “On June 23 at 8:15 pm, some Xiaomi TV users in Beijing and surrounding areas received earthquake warning messages as a result of an operational error by our R&D personnel during internal testing, mistakenly pushing internal simulated test data to the online formal environment. This content was purely simulated test data and not an official earthquake warning. There is currently no earthquake risk in the region.”
Xiaomi TV added that they would comprehensively reform their information release process and testing environment mechanisms, and formally apologize for causing user panic.
Last night, the hashtag #XiaomiFakeWarning# trended.
Some overseas netizens commented online: “For such a crucial public emergency system, to be able to have unidentified information randomly pop up, the security line has practically become leaky. One can only say, all the high-tech capabilities are being misused. They are constantly monitoring, catching violators, strangling small merchants left and right with high efficiency. But when it comes to real disaster prevention and life-saving measures, they are all just being unprofessional.”