Instagram is adding AMBER alerts to users’ feeds to allow people to view and share missing child notices in their area.
Meta announced earlier in the week that it would add AMBER alerts to Instagram for 25 countries. With these alerts, users will soon receive notifications of missing children in the area. The feature was already present on Facebook , and the company said it has helped find hundreds of children since it was introduced in 2015.
AMBER Alerts for Instagram were developed in partnership with various organizations such as the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the US and the International Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
“We know that the chances of finding a missing child increase when more people are on the lookout, especially in the early hours. With this update, if the police activate an AMBER Alert and you are in the designated search area, the alert now will appear in your Instagram feed,” Instagram said in a blog post .
How does the AMBER alert work on Instagram?
AMBER alerts on Instagram will be targeted, so if a user receives an alert, it suggests a search is underway for a missing child near their neighborhood.
Instagram has indicated that it will use information such as the city you include in your profile, your IP address, and location services (if enabled) to determine whether or not an AMBER Alert should be sent to you.
The list of 25 countries receiving AMBER alert support on Instagram includes, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Ecuador, Greece, Guatemala, Ireland, Jamaica, Korea, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands , New Zealand, Romania, South Africa, Taiwan, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States. It will be added to more regions in the future, the company said.