Facebook’s Safety Check Misguided Users in Bangkok with Fake News

Facebook’s Safety Check Misguided Users in Bangkok with Fake News. The social media giant generated terror and fury among users in Thailand after its Safety Check feature prompted a fabricated bomb alert in Bangkok.

Users in the country witnessed an alert to mark themselves safe, but saw little particulars about when or where in Bangkok the “explosion” happened. Safety Check came on Tuesday at around 9PM local time and was disabled about an hour later. News that “stated” the explosion related back to an outmoded story in 2015.

Facebook’s Safety Check Misguided Users in Bangkok with Fake News

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Here’s Facebook’s statement to The Verge on the matter:

“Safety Check was activated in Thailand following an explosion. As with all Safety Check activations, Facebook relies on a trusted third party to first confirm the incident and then on the community to use the tool and share with friends and family.”

According to BBC, an event occurred in the nation’s capital where a man threw ping pong-sized firecrackers that look like explosives at a government building.

Although there were no explosions, the event page for this specific Safety Check was titled “The Explosion in Bangkok.” Moreover, there were no links to the original news story Facebook ascribed to activating the feature.

Also Read: Facebook Excuses for Safety Check Malfunction After Lahore Explosion

However Facebook is looking into this matter that how these irrelevant links were added to Safety Check page. As it is not the first time that the check-in feature has issued a false notification. In March the company also excused after a bug sent a Safety Check warning to users around the world following a lethal suicide bombing in Pakistan.