Facebook activates Safety Check for second time in a week after Nigeria terrorist attack
Facebook has used its Safety Check feature for the second time in a week after it activated the service yesterday (Tuesday 17 November) following a suicide attack in the north-eastern Nigerian city of Yola which killed 32 people.
The Paris attacks were the first time that Safety Check had been implemented in a non-natural disaster situation and was hailed as a success with over 4 million people using the notification pop-up which automatically publishes a message to the news feed.
This led many to accuse the company of having a ‘western bias’ given that the service had not been used for recent terrorist attacks such as those in Beirut.
Mark Zuckerberg responded to the criticism vowing to activate the feature more often where it would be deemed effective.
Facebook’s vice president of growth, Alex Schultz defended the decision in a blog post saying that during an ongoing crisis or area of conflict Safety Check would not work as well because “there isn't a clear start or end point and, unfortunately, it's impossible to know when someone is truly 'safe.”
Yesterday’s attack in Yola- the third this year- saw a suicide bomber target a busy vegetable market resulting in the deaths of 32 people and injuring 80 others.
While no one has claimed responsibility for the blast it bares the hallmarks of militant Islamist group Boko Haram which has killed thousands over the last six years in a bid to impose strict Sharia law in the region.
As the event unfolded Zuckerberg announced on Facebook: “We've activated Safety Check again after the bombing in Nigeria this evening.”
He added: “A loss of human life anywhere is a tragedy, and we're committed to doing our part to help people in more of these situations.”
The post illustrates that Zuckerberg has addressed the criticisms and suggests that the service will be activated more frequently around the world for manmade disasters.