Facebook Safety Check Feature Triggered By Fake News Citing Thailand Explosion

Facebook’s algorithm mistakenly activated its Safety Check feature after a series of fake news reports said there was an explosion in Bangkok, Thailand, on Monday, the Verge initially reported.

The Safety Check feature notified Facebook users in the area that there had been an explosion on Dec. 26 according to “media sources.” The feature allowed users to mark themselves safe from the “explosion.”

There weren’t many details on the event, only that there was an explosion in Bangkok. The Safety Check feature for the explosion has since been turned off.

However, the explosion did happen — but in 2015. The bombing, which took place in a busy part of Bangkok, killed at least 20 people.

The news about the “explosion” traced back to a story posted by the Bangkok Informer on the Erwan Shrine bombing, reported by the BBC. The link to the story has been removed and the site is currently down, citing “scheduled maintenance.”

Other media outlets also shared the article, including MSN.com. The site said the BBC had filed the report on Tuesday, meaning the BBC republished the article that was posted last year on the bombings.

But not everyone fell for the report of an explosion. Users posted on Facebook, under the hastag #falsealarm, that people shouldn’t panic because the explosion happened last year.

Safety Check Update

Facebook announced a month ago that its Safety Check feature will be triggered by an algorithm that looks at trending news and post in that area.

“We believe people closest to a disaster should play a bigger role in deciding when Safety Check is most helpful,” said Facebook in November. “So today, Safety Check will be turned on by our community instead of Facebook.”