Facebook safety check reports false alerts of Bangkok explosion
Facebook built the safety tool in 2014 for its users to mark themselves safe in disaster or crisis.
A false ‘explosion’ alert spread on Facebook, citing various news outlets as confirmation, prompted many Facebook users in Bangkok to report them as safe using Facebook’s Safety Check tool.
Facebook built the safety tool in 2014 for its users to mark themselves safe in disaster or crisis. While marking them safe, the tool pulls up media reports to confirm the incident, but in this case the tool was triggered after media reports about a protestors throwing firecracker at the government building came in.
One such report was by a local media outlet Bangkok Post saying, “a man on a roof, throwing five giant firecrackers in the direction of the Government House building.”
Facebook has already been criticised over spreading fake news article on its website.
On December 15, the company announced to roll out new tools to prevent the spread of false news on the social media network. However, a website called bangkokinformer.com, referencing a BBC breaking news video about the incident taken place back in 2015, was linked to cite the incident on the Safety Check tool.
Initially, the Safety Check tool was controlled manually by Facebook team, however, Facebook now relies on third-party to first confirm the incident and then on the community to use the tool and share with friends and family.
According to Facebook, the instance was triggered Facebook’s Safety Check feature at about 21:00 local time, and created a page titled “The Explosion in Bangkok, Thailand,” following which Facebook users in the area started marking them safe, reported BBC.
Facebook has acknowledged the false alert and has deactivated the Safety Check regarding the fake Bangkok explosion.