Here's why Facebook activated its Safety Check for Paris but not Beirut

One day before terrorist attacks in Paris killed at least 129 people, two suicide bombings in Beirut killed more than 40 people. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for both the France and Lebanon attacks.

"It...seems clear to me that to the world, my people's deaths in Beirut do not matter as much as my other people’s deaths in Paris," Lebanese blogger Joey Ayoub wrote Saturday, expressing a sentiment shared by many, Al Jazeera reports.

Ayoub cited Facebook as part of the discrepancy he sees. After the Paris attacks, the social network implemented its Safety Check feature, which gave users in Paris a quick, easy way to tell friends they were safe. However, no such option existed for people in Beirut.

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Before Friday, Facebook had only ever used this feature for natural disasters, starting with Tokyo's 2011 tsunami. Here's Alex Schultz, Facebook's vice president for growth, explaining why the company decided to deploy Safety Check for Paris:

That explanation, which you can read in full here, may or may not satisfy those who have loved ones in Beirut. Also, Safety Check isn't the only perceived double standard on Facebook getting attention. Users can change their Facebook profile pictures to show solidarity with Paris, but there was no equivalent option for Beirut.