Facebook's Safety Check now lets friends and family know if you are safe after a non-natural disaster has occurred. (Photo : YouTube/wochit Tech)
Facebook activated its Safety Check feature right after the coordinated terrorist assaults in Paris, but the company's CEO Mark Zuckerberg received flak from certain quarters who questioned why the feature was not used after the Beirut bombings.
Safety Check enables Facebook users to mark themselves safe or receive notifications from affected family or friends.
Journalist Heba Alshibani was among those people who tweeted a question on where the Facebook app was during the attacks that unfolded in Lebanon and Iraq during the same week.
Lebanese journalist Doja Daoud told Al Jazeera that Facebook's safety check feature may not be totally practical in Lebanon, considering the country's "tumultuous recent history" and the fact that people will most likely experience connectivity problems.
The same media entity noted Zuckerberg's prompt reaction to the criticisms and affirmation that the social media company cares about all races equally.
Facebook Vice President of Growth Alex Schultz wrote a more detailed explanation on the decision that prompted activation of the Safety Check shortly after the Paris terroristic attacks.
Schultz called the feature a "work in progress" and it had to be fine-tuned for something other than a natural disaster. Facebook's key decision-makers activated it anew during a complex socio-political situation, and for them it was Paris.
Facebook deployed the first version of Safety Check in October 2014, and it was activated a number of times during natural disasters, among them the Nepal earthquake in April. After the horrific incident in Paris, Safety Check allowed millions of people to notify their friends and family on their safety.
After responding to critics who questioned why Safety Check was used in one circumstance and not another, Facebook will be using the feature for more human disasters hereon, Mashable reported.
Zuckerberg and his team, which added acts of terrorism to the type of issues calling for the deployment of Safety Check, also call the shots on when to turn off the tool.
