Facebook activated its safety check feature in Nice, France, after a truck driver run amok in a crowd of Bastille Day celebrators, which is the National Day of France. The truck ploughed through the crowd, leaving injured and dead in its wake. Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the attack. https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/753780860466245632 The attack left 80 people dead
, including children. This is the third instance in recent times that Facebook has activated the Safety Check feature. The Safety Check was activated in Turkey
on 29 June after a suicide bomber killed 35 people in an attack on Istanbul’s Airport. On 13 June, Safety Check was activated after a mass shooting at a gay club
in Florida, in the United States.
Facebook safety check is a feature that allows users to mark themselves as safe during emergency situations. Facebook tracks locations of users, and sends a notification to ask if the user is safe when they are detected to be in close proximity to a crisis situation. The feature sends notifications to friends and family, informing them that the affected users are safe. There is no option to mark yourself as unsafe in Safety Check. Users can also mark friends and family as safe, but the users have to confirm the marking before a notification is sent out to contacts.