【Dear Utol (2025): Aswang Episode 30】

UPDATE Dec. 28,Dear Utol (2025): Aswang Episode 30 2016, 7:15 p.m. PT: This post has been updated throughout following comment from Facebook.

Once again, fake news is having serious and terrifying implications on social media.

On Dec. 26, Facebook's Safety Check feature was activated to alert locals of an explosion in Bangkok, Thailand. But there was no explosion, at least not in the traditional sense.

While links connected to the Safety Check were regurgitating information about a 2015 explosion, Facebook says Safety Check was actually activated because of another incident reported by local media, although it would not give details on record. That same day a protester did toss several "ping pong bombs," which are home-made firecrackers, from the roof of Government House, according to The Nation, a Bangkok-based media outlet. No injuries were reported and the protester eventually climbed down, was questioned by authorities, then went home.

SEE ALSO: Can Facebook fix its fake news problem?

“Safety Check was activated today in Thailand following an explosion. As with all Safety Check activations, Facebook relies on a trusted third party to first confirm the incident and then on the community to use the tool and share with friends and family," Facebook wrote in a statement to Mashable.

But still, the links to the outdated news and the description of the safety check as "The Explosion in Bangkok, Thailand" are what caused confusion and panic.

The Safety Check, which came on around 9:00 p.m. local time, according to The Verge, gave people the option to mark themselves "safe" and to view friends who had done the same, igniting unnecessary panic within the community. The ping bong bomb incident occurred hours earlier, ending at around 9:20 a.m., according to Khaosod English, a local news outlet. The Safety Check alert included a link to a 2015 article on the Bangkok Informer disguised as a BBC Newsarticle. The article was reporting on the Erawan Shrine bombing that occurred in Bangkok last August.

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The Safety Check for the "crisis" was deactivated an hour later. Facebook would not comment on the record as to why the Safety Check was deactivated.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

It appears the Bangkok Informer article has since been deleted, but the Safety Check page remains on Facebook, "turned off."

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Though the Safety Check feature was originally created in 2014 to help users after natural disasters, it has expanded to accidental and intentional disasters as well.

Back in September, a Facebook spokesperson told Mashablethe feature can be activated in multiple ways:

"The first is when Facebook notifies everyone in an affected area. This is used when an incident impacts a large number people and there's value in reaching them quickly. We look at a combination of the scope, scale and duration of the incident to determine when it is appropriate for Facebook to notify everyone in an area.

We are also testing a way for communities to activate Safety Check. When a significant number of people post about a specific incident and are in a crisis area, they will be asked to mark themselves safe through Safety Check.

Once they do, they can then invite friends in the affected area to mark themselves safe as well. This allows communities to use Safety Check for situations where folks in the area know who Safety Check is most relevant for. In certain circumstances, as a situation evolves, Facebook may decide to notify everyone in an area even after the community has already started using Safety Check."

However, in November,Facebook announced that the feature would be completely triggered by the community, using an algorithm that identifies trending posts. Although, as Facebook told Mashable in its most recent statement, that's not all. A third-party, which Facebook would not name, actually activates Safety Check then an algorithm seeks out trending posts about the event, inviting people to mark themselves and others safe. According to Wired, that third-party "aggregates information directly from police departments, weather services, and the like."

The social media site has also received a great deal of criticism this year after being accused of heavily contributing to the spreading of fake news stories.

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Earlier this month, the site stated that it would finally take action to prevent the spread of misleading information by introducing a series of updates, which will only be made available to a small percentage of Facebook users in the U.S.

In the wake of this recent mishap, however, it seems the site will have to take much more serious steps to fight misinformation.

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