From what I've heard it's mostly true. Not only the CEO but a few SVPs can approve it, but yes a human must approve the update and it must be a high level exec.
Part of the reason is because their SLAs are based on that dashboard, and that dashboard going red has a financial cost to AWS, so like any financial cost, it needs approval.
Part of the reason is because their SLAs are based on that dashboard, and that dashboard going red has a financial cost to AWS, so like any financial cost, it needs approval.