Facebook's crisis notification tool was mistakenly activated for users in Bangkok.

The social network's safety check feature was activated on Tuesday after false reports of an explosion in the Thai capital.

Users was asked to mark themselves as "safe" for a brief period, before Facebook realised the error and deactivated the feature.

"The safety check for this crisis has been turned off," Facebook wrote on its safety check page for the erroneous Bangkok explosion.

Weerachon Sukondhapatipak, a spokesman for the ruling military government, confirmed to dpa that no explosion had taken place in Bangkok.

According to local media website Khaosod English, the safety check was triggered due to a BBC article posted last year on a Bangkok bombing that was picked up by MSN news bot.

The BBC article was published on August 17, 2015, and reported on a real bombing that killed 20 people at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok.

The safety check tool was launched by Facebook in October 2014. It allows users to let friends know they are safe and lets others check on the status those who may be in the affected area.

The Paris terrorist attacks of November 2015 was the first time the tool was activated for an event other than a natural disaster.