Facebook 'Safety Check' Glitch Asks Users Far From Lahore, Pakistan If They Are Safe After Explosion

After a deadly explosion in Lahore, Pakistan on Sunday, Facebook FB +0.47% activated its ‘Safety Check’ feature for the eighth time this year. However, a bug caused many users thousands of miles away from the apparent suicide bombing to mistakenly ask whether or not they were safe.

Users in locations such as London, New York and Washington D.C. took to social media to express confusion, annoyance and in some cases, alarm, after erroneously receiving ‘Safety Check’ texts or notifications. Some text alerts referenced an explosion without stating its location, leading some users to fear that an attack had occurred near them that they weren’t aware of. Smartphone alerts referenced Lahore. ”This really freaked me out until I realized that Facebook FB +0.47% thought I was in Pakistan,” a Facebook FB +0.47% user said on Twitter TWTR -0.62%.

A bug caused Facebook's 'Safety Check' feature to mistakenly send alerts to many users thousands of miles away from Sunday's explosion in Pakistan. (AFP/Getty Images)
A bug caused Facebook's 'Safety Check' feature to mistakenly send alerts to many users thousands of miles away from Sunday's explosion in Pakistan. (AFP/Getty Images)
A bug caused Facebook’s ‘Safety Check’ feature to mistakenly ask about the safety of many users far away from an explosion in Lahore, Pakistan on Sunday. (AFP/Getty Images)

After a deadly explosion in Lahore, Pakistan on Sunday, Facebook FB +0.47% activated its ‘Safety Check’ feature for the eighth time this year. However, a bug caused many users thousands of miles away from the apparent suicide bombing to mistakenly ask whether or not they were safe.

Users in locations such as London, New York and Washington D.C. took to social media to express confusion, annoyance and in some cases, alarm, after erroneously receiving ‘Safety Check’ texts or notifications. Some text alerts referenced an explosion without stating its location, leading some users to fear that an attack had occurred near them that they weren’t aware of. Smartphone alerts referenced Lahore. ”This really freaked me out until I realized that Facebook FB +0.47% thought I was in Pakistan,” a Facebook FB +0.47% user said on Twitter TWTR -0.62%.


Facebook FB +0.47% said “many users” were affected by the bug but did not state an exact number. The company said it “worked quickly to resolve the issue” and apologized to any users who unintentionally received the alert. Sunday’s explosion killed more than 60 people.

“We activated Safety Check today in Lahore, Pakistan, after an explosion that took place there,” Facebook FB +0.47% said in a post. ”Unfortunately, many people not affected by the crisis received a notification asking if they were okay. This kind of bug is counter to our intent.”

Billionaire venture capitalist and early Twitter investor Chris Sacca tweeted about being affected by the glitch:
Facebook first launched ‘Safety Check’ in October 2014 to help users quickly tell their friends they were safe after a disaster such as an earthquake or flood. The social media giant has since activated the tool after violent attacks, which it did for the first time after terrorist attacks in Paris in November. Facebook also launched the tool after terrorist attacks in Brussels last week.

The tool allows users to mark on their Facebook profile that they are safe as well as flag other users as being safe. While the tool has undeniable value, the social media giant has been criticized at times for taking too long to activate the feature or for using the tool after some attacks but not others. Last year, Facebook said that nearly 1 billion people received a notification that a friend was safe.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg each posted about activating ‘Safety Check’ after Sunday’s explosion, but did not address the bug. Here is Facebook’s full post about the malfunction:

Resource: http://www.forbes.com/