Facebook's Safety Check feature has been very helpful in emergency situations as it allows users who are either living or located in an area where an emergency occurs to remind their friends and loved ones that they are okay. However, one particular Security Check in Thailand did the opposite as it instead spread false reports of an explosion in Bangkok. This latest incident serves as another example of the social media leader's algorithms failure to distinguish false news sources from reliable ones.
The Safety Check for Bangkok was activated on December 26, and Facebook cited "media sources" as confirmation that there was an explosion in Thailand's capital. As it turns out, the "explosion" was caused by a lone man protesting on a roof while throwing out firecrackers towards the Government House. The Government House is where the prime minister of Thailand works. According to the Bangkok Post, no one was hurt in the incident.
The "source" of the @Facebook Safety Check for Bangkok: A fake news site that scrapped stuff from elsewhere…! pic.twitter.com/i6Q2k8XBxP
— Saksith Saiyasombut (@SaksithCNA) December 27, 2016
The activation of this feature caused confusion as the social media site also promoted a link of a false news report regarding a major "explosion." The link redirected users to the website of the Bangkok Informer where they were greeted with a headline that read "Thailand: Explosion Rocks Central Bangkok" along with the "breaking news" image used by BBC.
On Wednesday, the website of the Bangkok Informer was "down for maintenance." The link in question also appeared to use a 2015 video from a BBC story about a bomb explosion in Bangkok that left 19 people dead and 120 injured. According to the Telegraph, the Bangkok Informer is not known for being a reliable news source as it only reposts news stories from other sources.
A Google search for it will yield results showing only the main website and its Twitter account which has around 1,645 followers. The Facebook Safety Check feature was first implemented back in 2014 and was originally intended for use during natural disasters, but it has since been extended after the attacks in Paris last year. It sends notifications to a user's friends and family informing them that they are safe.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
