A Facebook Safety Check about an “explosion in San Diego” apparently caused widespread confusion on social media on Wednesday night.
Facebook puts out safety checks during major natural disasters or crises. So it certainly raised some eyebrows when the platform asked users if they were safe after an unknown explosion.
The only blast to happen in the San Diego vicinity in the past 48 hours was an explosion and fire at a City Heights apartment complex just after 3 a.m. Tuesday that injured six people.
That apartment explosion came at least 24 hours before most people reported receiving the alerts.
And does an apartment fire really rise to the level of a widespread safety check?
A search of Facebook shows it was an extremely popular search term: 14,852 looked up the term “explosion in San Diego” on Wednesday evening.
It wasn’t immediately clear Wednesday night if Facebook’s purported explosion was the City Heights explosion. Plus, it also wasn’t known the reason for the delayed alert.
A look at Facebook’s safety check protocol shows the social media platform intends them for a disaster, like a typhoon, and other major crises.
[Source: 7 sun diego]
