Facebook’s new feature could save your life

Facebook is in the process of rolling out a feature that could save your life — or just help abusers.

Live Location in Messenger allows you to send your current, moving location to a person or group. For a period of 60 minutes — or until you stop sharing — your friends will be able to follow your movements on the Messenger app. They will also be told how long it would take you to get to them.

“We’ve been testing this for a little while, and people tell us that Live Location is helpful when trying to coordinate with friends, telling people how close you are when you’re on your way to an appointment, or even sharing where you are with your roommate when you’re on your way home at night,” the announcement reads.

A few apps have been released to help people who travel alone, but none have caught on. The biggest issue is that most of them need to be installed on both the sender and receiver’s phones — meaning that the people you communicate with are limited.

Facebook Messenger users can now send users their location from their smartphone

But almost everyone with Facebook on their phone has Messenger — and we know that its location system works.

Facebook assures us that privacy is not an issue. Users only need share their location when they want to and can stop it any time.

“Sharing your location in a Messenger conversation — either continuously for an hour with Live Location or as a static point — is completely optional. You are always in control,” the post reads.

But anyone who has been in a toxic or abusive relationship will know that this feature is just one more way to be controlled. Optional doesn’t matter if someone is physically violent or threatening.

If there is anyone in South Africa who finds themselves in this position, Lifeline can be contacted for general counselling at 0861 322 322 and for help with gender-based violence at 0800 150 150. For minors, Childline can be contacted on 08000 55 555.