Facebook defends using Safety Check after Paris attacks

When disaster strikes, your first thoughts are of family and friends. That’s where Facebook’s “Safety Check” comes in.

Facebook asks users if they are safe based on their location. People can mark themselves or other friends “safe," “unsafe," or “not in the area." Safety statuses appear as a notification in News Feeds.

Previously only used in the event of natural disasters, the California company activated Safety Check in the wake of last week’s Paris attacks as a way to quickly check on loved ones.

According to CNNMoney, more than 4 million people marked themselves as “safe" 24 hours after Facebook activated its rarely used tool.

But despite the peace of mind it brought some families, it sparked outrage from others who questioned why the tool wasn’t used for attacks, such as Beirut, the day before.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg responded to the questions and concerns in a post on his Facebook page.

"You are right that there are many other important conflicts in the world," Zuckerberg wrote. "Until yesterday, our policy was only to activate Safety Check for natural disasters. We just changed this [policy] and now plan to activate Safety Check for more human disasters going forward as well."

According to CNNMoney, Facebook unveiled Safety Check in 2014 and, before Friday, had used it five times – all for natural disasters.

Read more from CNNMoney.