The alerts, which will be available in the United States and two dozen other countries, will include details about the missing child, such as a photo, description and location of the suspected abduction. It is designed to be shared with friends on the platform to further spread awareness.
The alerts are “rare and specific to the search area,” Vacher added, saying that if a user gets one, “it means there is an active search for a missing child nearby.”
To target the alerts, Instagram said it will use the city listed on a user’s profile as well as the user’s IP address and location services (if the user has this feature turned on). The update was developed in partnership with organizations including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, according to Vacher.
“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,” Michelle DeLaune, president and CEO at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, said in a statement accompanying Meta’s announcement.