Facebook’s launched Safety Check feature in October 2014
AB Wire
Social networking giant Facebook on Sunday has switched on its Safety Check feature for the first time in the United States after a gunman massacred 50 people at a gay nightclub in Florida – the worst mass shooting in US history.
The feature allows people to notify their friends if they are in the affected area and mark themselves as safe.
A click or tap on the “I’m Safe” button lets friends and loved ones know straight away. Users can also check to see whether their friends are safe too.
The gunman, named by officials as Afghan-origin Omar Mateen, 29, was killed by a SWAT team after he took hostages at Pulse, a popular gay night club.
It is believed that the suspect, who was a US citizen from the Florida town of Port St Lucie, was not on a terrorism watch list, although he was being investigated for an unrelated criminal act, BBC reported.
US President Barack Obama called the mass shooting an “act of terror” and “act of hate”.
Facebook’s Safety Check feature, launched in October 2014, after first introducing the feature in Japan due to the country’s propensity for natural disasters.
Last year, Facebook vowed to turn on the Safety Check more often during disasters in response to criticism that it enabled the function after Islamic State attack terrorist on Paris and not a day earlier when a bomb killed at least 43 people in Beirut.
(With Agency Inputs)