Facebook activates ‘Safety Check’ after Orlando massacre

Facebook activated its ‘Safety Check’ tool after the killings at an Orlando nightclub early Sunday, making it the first time the service was used in the U.S.

A gunman opened fire at the nightclub, killing at least 50 people in what President Barack Obama said was being investigated as an “act of terrorism.”

Facebook’s tool, launched in 2014, helps users in the vicinity of a disaster alert family and friends about their safety. The tool asks users determined to be in the affected area if they are safe and they can then notify their friends about their safety with the click of a button. 

Facebook said it has over the last few months both improved the launch process to make it easier and quicker to activate the tool, while also testing ways to let users identify and elevate local crises. It has, for example, automated the deployment of the tool so that trained teams across time zones can activate the tool at any time, rather than wait for an engineer to do it.

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