Meta-owned photo-sharing platform Instagram has announced that it is launching AMBER Alerts on the platform that will allow people to see and share notices of missing children in their area. This feature has started rolling out, and be fully available in 25 countries, including South Africa, Taiwan, Ukraine, the UK, the UAE and the US, among others, in the coming weeks. "We are bringing AMBER Alerts to Instagram for the first time," the company said in a blogpost.
"This feature was developed in partnership with organisations like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the US, the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, the National Crime Agency in the UK, the Attorney General's Office in Mexico, the Australian Federal Police and more," it added. Since 2015, AMBER Alerts on Facebook have been successful in helping authorities find and quickly locate missing children.
With this update, if an AMBER Alert is activated by law enforcement and you are in the designated search area, the alert will now appear in your Instagram feed. The alert will include important details about the child such as a photo, description, location of the abduction and any other available information that can be provided. People can also share the alert with friends to further spread the word.