Facebook rolled out its "safety check" feature in October 2014 to give its users a way to assure friends and family they were safe after natural disasters. Then, after last fall's Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, Facebook began activating "safety checks" for major terrorist attacks and other violence. When a suicide bomber attacked Gulshan-e-Iqbal park in Lahore, Pakistan, on Easter Sunday, with an offshoot of the Pakistani Taliban taking responsibility for murdering at least 72 people and claiming they were targeting Christians (though most of the dead are Muslims), Facebook flipped on the feature again for users in the Lahore area. This time there was a bug.
"Unfortunately, many people not affected by the crisis received a notification asking if they were okay," Facebook said in a post on Sunday, after getting complaints from users in the U.S., Great Britain, India, and elsewhere. "This kind of bug is counter to our intent. We worked quickly to resolve the issue and we apologize to anyone who mistakenly received the notification." Facebook didn't say what caused the bug, or how many users were affected, but many people who erroneously received an invitation — "Have you been affected by the explosion?" — said they were initially terrified that there had been a bombing nearby, since the message did not mention Lahore or Pakistan.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Swiss bliss: Chenot Palace Weggis takes wellness to the next levelThe Blend Heath retreat on Switzerland's Lake Lucerne offers a mid-winter reset
-
Earth's mini-moon was the moon all alongUnder the radar More lunar rocks are likely floating in space
-
Crossword: February 4, 2025The Week's daily crossword
-
TikTok's fate uncertain as weekend deadline loomsSpeed Read The popular app is set to be banned in the U.S. starting Sunday
-
Appeals court kills FCC net neutrality ruleSpeed Read A U.S. appeals court blocked Biden's effort to restore net-neutrality rules
-
Judge rejects Elon Musk's $56B pay package againSpeed Read Judge Kathaleen McCormick upheld her rejection of the Tesla CEO's unprecedented compensation deal
-
DOJ seeks breakup of Google, ChromeSpeed Read The Justice Department aims to force Google to sell off Chrome and make other changes to rectify its illegal search monopoly
-
Racist texts tell Black people in US to prepare for slaverySpeed Read Recipients in at least a dozen states have been told to prepare to 'pick cotton' on slave plantations
-
Australia proposes social media ban before age 16Speed Read Australia proposes social media ban before age 16
-
FTC bans fake online product reviewsSpeed Read The agency will enforce fines of up to $51,744 per violation
-
States sue TikTok over children's mental healthSpeed Read The lawsuit was filed by 13 states and Washington, D.C.
