Facebook asked to provide feature to ‘mark oneself safe’ during Patel reservation protests

In a dramatic twist to the ongoing demand for reservations, the Patidar youth today launched a new protest demanding ‘Facebook Safety Check’ feature whenever and wherever they break into violence.

“The bloody media is not giving us proper coverage even though we are trying to match the Jat protests of Haryana,” said Jignesh Patel, one of the protesters, “Now we want Facebook to come up with this feature so that the whole world know what we are up to.”

However, it’s not just media coverage; the protestors say that such a feature from Facebook is badly needed by them.

How the safety feature on Facebook might work

“When there is a natural calamity or a terror attack, Facebook comes up with this feature, but what about protests which go violent? Aren’t we supposed to let our people know that we are safe while we set a public transport bus on fire?” Jignesh listed the benefits of the Facebook feature.

Speaking exclusively to Faking News, Jignesh said that their latest demand was among their top three demands, the other two being getting Hardik Patel released from jail and having quota in government jobs and educational institutions.

“When Hardikbhai is released, we want him to mark himself safe on Facebook, and report Anandiben for abuse,” the young Patidar expressed his wish.

When asked how will he actually use this feature, which requires Internet connection, because internet services are suspended as soon as Patidar protests break out, he looked at the reporter said, “That is headache of Facebook. If they don’t give us this feature, we will attack their offices in US, where many Patels reside.”

Facebook has not yet officially responded to the demands though sources say that Mark Zuckerberg himself is keenly following the developments.

“Zuck sees it as another opportunity to push his Free Basics concept,” a Facebook source told Faking News, “Last time the Net Neutrality protestors had screwed up his plans to offer Facebook for free, but now this could strengthen his case as Facebook is being linked to public security.”

“Our study says that this whole caste and reservation thing is not going to go away anytime soon in India. Some Jats have already poked Zuck on Facebook. So this could be a god sent opportunity to push for Free Basics,” he said.