INSTAGRAM is adding Amber Alerts to help find abducted children.
It means Instagram users can have a better chance of saving a youngster in danger.
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The genius feature will reveal important details about the missing child.
This includes a photo, description, location of the abduction and any other useful info.
The alert arrives through Instagram and can then be shared with friends.
It’s available starting from tomorrow and will roll out across 25 countries in the next few weeks.
“We know that the chances of finding a missing child increase when more people are on the lookout, especially in the first few hours,” said Meta’s Emily Vacher, who manages trust and safety at the tech giant.
“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.
“AMBER Alerts are an important way we can support our communities in keeping children safe, and we look forward to continuing this work.”
It’s hoped that it the AMBER Alerts will raise the chances of finding an abducted child.
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In the UK, the Instagram app system is built in partnership with the National Crime Agency – and with the National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the US.
“Amber Alerts are a crucial tool in helping to get a message out quickly about a missing child and often result in vital information from the public that helps law enforcement to locate them,” said the National Crime Agency’s Louise Newell.
“Having a really visual social platform like Instagram on board with issuing such alerts is great news, bringing missing children cases to a larger, more diverse audience and therefore increasing opportunities to find a missing child.
“If you have any information relating to a missing child alert, however small, you should immediately contact the police using details in the alert message.”
The Amber Alert system was originally created in the USA.
It’s named after Amber Rene Hagerman, a 9-year-old girl who was abducted and murdered in 1996.
But the name is also a “backronym”, standing for America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response.
In the US, Amber Alerts are delivered through radio stations, TV and via text message.
Alerts can also be issued over email and commercial billboards.
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