Facebook has been accused of inappropriately using the fire in west London to push its own brand after the ‘safety check’ service was activated
The check sends out messages to people in the vicinity of an event – such as a terror attack – and encourages them to “mark themselves safe” for their social media friends to see.
It was recently activated in the wake of the Manchester Arena bombing and the terrorist attack on London Bridge.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, it was activated after a huge fire engulfed a Grenfell Tower in west London – a 24-storey building housing 127 apartments.
Seventeen people have been confirmed dead in the blaze and 78 have been taken to hospital.
But authorities have warned the death toll is likely to rise, with fears growing that none of the residents in the top three floors managed to escape.
Grenfell Tower aftermath - In pictures
Some people took to social media to question the necessity of the safety checker after those up to seven miles away from the travesty received prompts.
ABC news reporter James Longman tweeted: “I've always been sceptical about the 'safety check' feature on Facebook. Doing it for the #GlenfellTower fire seems totally unnecessary.”
And co-founder of the b3ta digital arts community Rob Manuel agreed, saying he was “increasingly uncomfortable” with the service after he was sent a notification at his home six miles away.
“Feels like they're adding to people's stress to drive engagement,” he wrote.
Another twitter user wrote: “My love/hate with Facebook Safety Check continues. Ftr, I am 7 miles, an hour car, 45 mins by tube, or 2&1/2 hour walk from the fire.”
The safety check is automatically activated when multiple people post about the same event, using key words such as "flooding", "fire" or "earthquake".
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When the site notices someone using such words, it will ask them if they are okay and prompt them to mark themselves safe and encourage others to do the same.
According to Facebook, it has been activated more than 600 times in two years.
On Thursday the safety check had been deactivated.
