Facebook activated its "Safety Check" feature for the first time in the United States following the Orlando shooting early Sunday morning that left 49 people dead and dozens more injured.
The social media giant introduced Safety Check in 2014, and it was first utilized during the devastating earthquake in Nepal in April of 2015. While the feature was originally meant to be activated only during natural disasters,after the Paris bombings in November, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced, "We...plan to activate Saftey Check for more human disasters going forward as well."
According to the feature's information page, Safety Check allows Facebook users to "connect with friends and loved ones during a disaster." Using location tools, Facebook can see if someone is near the area of the disaster and let them post that they're safe. Check out a demonstration of Safety Check below:
Objections to increasing corporate surveillance aside, Safety Check seems like a useful tool in the event of a situation such as the mass shooting in Orlando. However, according to PCMag, the company drew criticism for activating Safety Check during the bombings in Paris as opposed to other terrorist attacks. In response, Facebook has increased efforts to allow citizens to initiate Safety Check themselves if the situation calls for it.
"Over the last few months, we have improved the launch proces to make it easier for our team to activate more frequently and faster, while testing ways to empower people to identify and elevate local crises as well," a Facebook spokesperson told PCMag.
As a result, Safety Check has seen increased use this year. According to the PCMag report, "In 2016, Safety Check has been turned on 17 times, compared with 11 times in 2014 and 2015 combined." Sunday morning's massacre marked its first use in the United States, and the decision to activate the feature has not met any backlash.
We can only hope and pray there is no need to activate Safety Check in the United States in the future.