Social media giant Meta blocked or hid Facebook search results for "Cyclone Alfred" ahead of the tropical storm bearing down on Australia's east coast.

The platform is a key communication channel for emergency coverage in Australia and is used to help broadcast evacuation orders and other updates to residents during a crisis.

Tropical Cyclone Alfred is expected to make landfall between the Gold Coast and southern parts of Wide Bay region as early as Thursday evening as a category two cyclone.

It is forecast to bring destructive winds and the risk of life-threatening flooding.

But general searches about cyclones or "TC Alfred" did produce information and articles in the search results, indicating some kind of throttling about the term Cyclone Alfred specifically.

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The Queensland government has urged the community to visit its disaster monitoring website for the most up-to-date information.