Last Sunday, Facebook sent misdirected safety messages to people in the U.S. and the U.K. about a terrorist bombing incident that killed 65 and injured more than 300 in Lahore, Pakistan.
The social media giant's Safety Check is supposed to send messages only to people close to the area where an emergency occurred. But people in the other side of the globe received incorrectly routed messages.
Some Facebook users received text messages on their mobile devices that asked: "Facebook Safety Check: Are you affected by the explosion? Reply SAFE if you're ok or OUT if you aren't in the area." The funny thing is that the messages didn't mention the place of the explosion.
Other users received more detailed messages asking if they were in Gulshan-i-Iqbal Park in Lahore, the place where the blast occurred.
Facebook later apologized to those who received the misrouted text messages in the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as those in other countries.
The social media giant deployed its Safety Check notifications immediately after the blast, the same way it did after the recent bombing attacks in Belgium, Nigeria and Paris. This prompted those who were near the location to inform their family and friends that they were OK.
Safety Check notifications coursed through the Facebook app mentioned that the explosion occurred in Pakistan. However, those sent through SMS did not and just ask simply: "Are you affected by the explosion?"
"We activated Safety Check today in Lahore, Pakistan, after a bombing that took place there," a company spokeswoman said in a statement.
"Unfortunately, many people not affected by the crisis received a notification asking if they were okay. We worked to resolve the issue and we apologize to anyone who mistakenly received the notification," the statement added.
"This kind of bug is counter to our intent," a post on the company website said. However, Facebook did not mention what kind of bug caused the Safety Check malfunction.
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