However, since the feature was not activated during the attacks in Beirut just the day before, many users have criticised the social networking giant for its double standards.
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Facebook is taking a few flak for activating its safety check feature after the Paris terrorist attacks.
“In times of disaster or crisis, people turn to Facebook to check on loved ones and get updates”, the company said in a blog post announcing the feature previous year.
That was the first time Facebook had ever activated Safety Check for a scenario other than a natural disaster.
“Until yesterday, our policy was only to activate Safety Check for natural disasters”, Mark Zuckerberg explained.
“I had a few friends were in, not in Paris but were in France when the attacks happened so they went on Facebook and let people that they knew that they were safe, and I think that app could be an effective tool for that”, said UB student Aubrey Mclaughlin. Selecting the latter option will generate a notification and News Feed story to let the users’ Facebook friends know that they are safe. You are right that there are many other important conflicts in the world. The tool allows users in affected areas to send a notification to their family and friends that they are safe. Last week, the company activated the tool for the first time for a man-made tragedy: the deadly attacks on Paris.
Over the weekend, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg vowed that the social media platform’s Safety Check tool will be implemented during human-created emergencies.
“We’re now working quickly to develop criteria for the new policy and determine when and how this service can be most useful”, Zuckerberg said Tuesday.
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He directed users to a post on the Facebook safety page written on Saturday by Vice President of Growth Alex Schultz. “We will learn a lot from feedback on this launch, and we’ll also continue to explore how we can help people show support for the things they care about through their Facebook profiles, which we did in the case for Paris, too”, he concluded. “We want this tool to be available whenever and wherever it can help”.
