Instagram has joined forces in the fight to help locate missing children.
The social media app will add the Amber Alert feature to its platforms. When a child goes missing in your area, users will see their picture.
There will also be a description added and a link with contact information for local law enforcement, WSBTV News reported.
Facebook added the feature in 2015. Instagram users will also be able to share the alerts with friends to help spread the word.
A partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), and Meta was formed that will add the power of the Instagram community to finding and saving children that are at risk.
“Instagram is a platform based on the power of photos, making it a perfect fit for the Amber Alert program,” said Michelle DeLaune, President and CEO of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. “We know that photos are a critical tool in the search for missing children and by expanding the reach to the Instagram audience, we’ll be able to share photos of missing children with so many more people.”
If an Instagram user believes they’ve seen a missing child, they will be able to click on a link in their feed to contact the police department in that area. They can also share the alert with friends to further spread the word.
To know who to show these alerts to, Meta uses a variety of signals, which includes the city you list on your profile, your IP address, and location services if it is enabled. These alerts will allow people on their phones, wherever they are, to be on the lookout.
