Missing Australian children to feature in Instagram alerts after discussions with AFP

The Australian Federal Police have created a new way to help find missing children. This is how it will work.

Photos and details of missing Australian children will appear in your Instagram feed in future after Meta announced plans to roll out “amber alerts” in 25 countries, including Australia, on Thursday.

The alerts, which have also been tested on Facebook, will feature photos and a description of a missing child, and will be delivered to Instagram users located within the search area.

Meta trust and safety director Emily Vacher said the tech giant had worked with the Australian Federal Police to develop the in-app alerts, which would begin rolling out to users worldwide over the next “couple of 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,” she said.

“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.”

Instagram will serve alerts to users based on the city named on their profile, their IP address, and if they share location data with the service.

Meta's photo-sharing app Instagram has announced plans to launch "amber alerts" for missing children in Australia.

Users will also be able to share alerts with their followers to amplify their reach.

The missing child alerts were introduced to Facebook in the US in 2015 and, in 2020, one was key to rescuing an 11-year-old girl who had been abducted in the US.

Amber alerts were introduced to Facebook in Australia in 2017 and are also issued by Australian police across traditional media services, including TV sand radio stations, as well as electronic billboards, text messages and on Twitter.

A Queensland Police Service spokesperson said the partnership with Instagram had the potential to “expand its audience reach across social media“ and spread awareness of children in danger.

“The community plays a pivotal role in assisting police with amber alerts and we have seen several children be reunited with their loved ones following information provided by members of the public,” the spokesperson said.

A Victoria Police spokesperson said officers would use the amber alert system on Instagram when they considered it could help find a child.

“The system can be considered for use when certain criteria are met and there is a clear operational benefit,” the spokesperson said.

Meta’s new feature comes at a tricky time for the social media giant, which also announced its second in command, chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, was resigning her role with the company after 14 years.

It comes just weeks after venture capitalist Peter Thiel announced he was stepping down from Meta’s board, and after disappointing financial results including the company’s first ever loss of daily active users on Facebook.

Originally published as Missing Australian children to feature in Instagram alerts after discussions with AFP