Facebook Safety Check (sometimes called Facebook Crisis Response) is a feature managed by the social networking company Facebook. The feature is activated by the company during natural or man-made disasters and terror-related incidents to quickly determine whether people in the affected geographical area are safe.
History
Release The feature was developed by Facebook engineers, inspired by people's use of social media to connect with friends and family in the wake of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Originally named the Disaster Message Board, it was renamed to Safety Check prior to release. It was introduced on October 15, 2014. Its first major deployment was on Saturday, April 25, 2015, in the wake of the April 2015 Nepal earthquake. The tool was deployed again in the wake of the May 2015 Nepal earthquake, during Pacific Hurricane Patricia in October 2015, and during the November 2015 Paris attacks, the latter being the first time the tool was used in response to a non-natural disaster. On March 22, 2016, during reports of explosions at an airport and train station in Brussels, the feature was turned on again, but there was a delay in turning it on after it was revealed it was a suicide bomber attack.
On June 2, 2016, Facebook announced that it would start experimenting with community-activated Safety Checks. With the new system, Safety Check would be activated based on combination of a certain number of people posting about a particular crisis plus an alert from one of Facebook's third-party sources. Users would also be able to share and spread the word about the Safety Check once it was activated. Facebook hoped the changes would lead to more consistent, frequent, and streamlined deployments around the world.
On February 8, 2017, Facebook introduced a Community Help feature to the Safety Check crisis response tool. It allows users to search through categorized posts, offer local assistance, and connect with providers over Facebook Messenger. In June 2017, Facebook announced several updates to Safety Check, including the Community Help feature coming to desktops. It was also made possible for users to start fundraisers from within Safety Check.
Deployment in the context of the Nepal earthquake
On Saturday, April 25, 2015, an earthquake struck Nepal, with an estimated loss of a few thousand lives. Within a few hours of the earthquake hitting, Facebook had activated Safety Check in the region. It identified users as possibly being in the affected area by their current city as listed on their profile, as well as the place from which they had most recently accessed Facebook. The desktop version of Safety Check also provided a brief synopsis of the event and emergency contact numbers.
During the activation more than 7 million people in the affected area were marked safe, which generated notifications to over 150 million friends on the platform.
The tool was deployed again in the wake of the May 2015 Nepal earthquake, and received attention when some people outside the affected area were reported by Facebook as marked safe.
Deployment during November Paris attacks Facebook deployed the feature during November 2015 Paris attacks. This was the first time Facebook activated the feature for a violent attack (or any non-natural disaster), mentioning that the policy for activation and the product itself is an ongoing work in progress.
Other deployments Location Event Reference Notes Nigeria Boko Haram bombings (late November 2015) Announcing the activation on his Facebook timeline, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote that unfortunately, incidents like this were all too common and he would not announce individual activations of Safety Check in the future. However, he urged people to be optimistic and realize that the frequency of such incidents was going down on the whole. Chennai, India 2015 South Indian floods Ankara, Turkey February 2016 Ankara bombing First operational use in Turkey. Ankara, Turkey March 2016 Ankara bombing Brussels, Belgium 2016 Brussels bombings (March 22, 2016) David Cohen, Facebook Activates Safety Check for Brussels Bombings, AdWeek (March 22, 2016). Lahore, Pakistan 2016 Lahore bombing Facebook accidentally sent notifications asking whether users were safe to Facebook users around the world, even those who were nowhere near Pakistan. Orlando area, Florida, United States Orlando nightclub shooting (June 12, 2016) Julie Shapiro, Facebook Activates Safety Check for Orlando Nightclub Shooting, Time (June 12, 2016).Justin Boggs, Facebook activates Safety Check for Orlando residents, WGBA-TV (June 12, 2016). First operational use in the United States. Antananarivo, Madagascar Explosion in Mahamasina Municipal Stadium, Antananarivo (June 26, 2016) Istanbul, Turkey 2016 Atatürk Airport attack Dallas, Texas, United States 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers Nice, France 2016 Nice truck attack Munich, Germany 2016 Munich shooting at OEZ (July 22, 2016) Quetta, Pakistan 8 August 2016 Quetta bombing Gothenburg, Sweden Hand grenade attack on apartment building that killed an 8-year-old boy (August 22, 2016) Central Italy August 2016 Central Italy earthquake (August 24, 2016) Heather Kelly, Mark Zuckerberg headed to Italy after earthquake, CNN Money (August 25, 2016). Tel Aviv, Israel Tel Aviv building collapse (September 5, 2016) Facebook activated it in a small distribution as a pilot in order to expand the feature. Davao City, Philippines 2016 Davao City bombing (September 2, 2016) New York City, United States 2016 Chelsea bombing James Rogers, Facebook activates Safety Check service after New York City explosion, Fox News (September 18, 2016). Hoboken, New Jersey, United States 2016 Hoboken train crash at Hoboken Terminal (September 29, 2016) Brussels, Belgium2016 stabbing of Brussels police officers (October 5, 2016) Kaikōura, Blenheim, Christchurch, Wellington, New Zealand. 2016 Kaikōura earthquake (November 14, 2016) Haifa, Israel November 2016 Israel fires (November 24, 2016) First operational use in Israel. Columbus, Ohio, United States Ohio State University attack (November 28, 2016) Gatlinburg, Tennessee, United States2016 Wildfire in Gatlinburg area (November 28, 2016)Oakland, California, United States2016 Oakland warehouse fire (December 2, 2016)Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States10-Alarm fire in residential neighborhood (December 4, 2016)Chennai, IndiaCyclone Vardah hits India (December 12, 2016) Gothenburg, Sweden Hand grenade attack on apartment building (December 15, 2016) Berlin, Germany2016 Berlin truck attack (December 19, 2016)JerusalemJanuary 2017 Jerusalem vehicular attack (January 8, 2017)Jersey Village, Texas, United StatesJersey Village tornado (January 16, 2017)Playa del Carmen, MexicoPlaya del Carmen violent incident (January 16, 2017)First operational use in MexicoChristchurch, New ZealandPort Hills wildfire (February 13, 2017)London, United Kingdom2017 Westminster attack (March 22, 2017)Saint-Petersburg, Russia2017 Saint Petersburg Metro attack (April 3, 2017)First operational use in RussiaStockholm, Sweden2017 Stockholm truck attack (April 7, 2017)Manchester, EnglandManchester Arena bombing (May 22, 2017)Jakarta, Indonesia2017 Kampung Melayu bombings (May 24, 2017)First operational use in IndonesiaPernambuco, Brazil2017 Pernambuco and Alagoas floods (May 27, 2017)London, England2017 London Bridge attack (June 3, 2017)Cape Town, South AfricaJune 2017 stormFirst operational use in South AfricaKnysna, South AfricaJune 2017 wildfiresLondon, EnglandGrenfell Tower fire (June 14, 2017)Split, CroatiaSplit wildfire (June 16–18, 2017)First operational use in CroatiaBarcelona, Spain2017 Barcelona attacks (August 17, 2017)First operational use in SpainTurku, FinlandTurku stabbing (August 18, 2017)First operational use in FinlandHong Kong and MacaoTyphoon Hato (August 22, 2017)First operational use in Hong Kong and MacaoRomaniaWestern Romania storm (September 17, 2017)First operational use in RomaniaLas Vegas, Nevada, United States2017 Las Vegas shooting (October 1, 2017)Czech Republic, Germany, PolandStorm Herwart (October 29, 2017)Surabaya, Indonesia2018 Surabaya bombings (May 13, 2018)Lombok, IndonesiaAugust 2018 Lombok earthquake (August 5, 2018)Utrecht, NetherlandsUtrecht tram shooting (March 18, 2019)First operational use in the NetherlandsAustralia2019–20 Australian bushfire seasonJakarta, Indonesia2020 Greater Jakarta flooding (January 1, 2020)Jakarta, IndonesiaJanuary 2020 Jakarta floodsBandung Regency, IndonesiaJanuary 2020 Bandung floodsHouston, Texas, USJanuary 2020 Houston explosionsZagreb, Croatia2020 Zagreb earthquake (March 22, 2020)Southern BrazilJune 2020 Brazil bomb cycloneBeirut, Lebanon2020 Beirut explosion (August 4, 2020)First operational use in LebanonCalifornia, US2020 California wildfiresOregon, US2020 Oregon wildfiresPhilippinesTyphoon Rolly (October 2020)Malaysia2020–21 Malaysian floodsGjerdrum, Norway2020 Gjerdrum landslide (December 30, 2020)Valparaíso, ChileValparaíso wildfires (January 2021)Madrid, Spain2021 Madrid explosion (January 20, 2021)Tétouan, MoroccoTétouan floods (March 2021)First operational use in MoroccoBéjaïa, Algeria2021 Béjaïa earthquake (March 18, 2021)First operational use in AlgeriaSantiago, Nuevo León, MexicoNuevo León wildfires (March 2021)Saint Vincent and the Grenadines2021 eruption of La Soufrière (April 2021)First operational use in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Reception
Reception upon release Upon the release of Safety Check, Richard Lawler wrote in Engadget praising the tool, writing "[I]t can take some pressure off of overloaded infrastructure with everyone trying to call affected areas after disasters hit, and of course, save you from a post-tragedy chewing out for failure to let people know you're fine." On the flip side, he posited that Safety Check might be "a cagey way to try to take some of the creepiness out of the apps' location tracking features".
Reception of deployment for April 2015 Nepal earthquake Commentators praised Facebook Safety Check in the wake of the April 2015 Nepal earthquake and compared it to Google Person Finder, a tool by Google with a similar purpose. However, commentators noted that due to low penetration of mobile devices and poor network connectivity in the region (which had worsened due to the earthquake), many of the people in the target audience of the tool would not be able to use it. This was likened to similar problems faced by Google Person Finder during the 2010 Pakistan floods.
Reception of deployment for May 2015 Nepal earthquake After the May 2015 Nepal earthquake, BuzzFeed reported that many users outside the geographical area affected by the earthquake were marking themselves as safe using the tool, and that this was angering other users who thought they were being insensitive to the toll and tragedy of the event. The story was picked up by other publications including the Huffington Post and fact-checking website Snopes, which noted that this was due to a bug in Facebook leading it to prompt people outside the affected area to confirm whether they were safe.
In popular culture The Safety Check graphic has been widely parodied as the "Marked Safe" meme template, in which users jokingly declare themselves safe from trivial day-to-day annoyances.
See also
Google Person Finder
References