Instagram is reportedly to launch ‘Amber Alerts’ in a bid to quickly help locate missing children.
The alerts would send notifications to Instagram users' phones with details about the missing child including possible photo, description, and their last known location.
Such notifications are common in the US, with phone carriers enlisted to help authorities locate a child.
In the UK the alerts have been developed by the National Crime Agency and it is thought they could play a vital role in locating missing childre n because of the visual nature of the photo-sharing app.
Alerts will be location-based and only sent to users in the location of the missing child
The company will send alerts using signals including the city in people’s profiles, their IP address and the location services from the phone.
Facebook, which owns the platform, said the feature will begin rolling out on Thursday in the UK and 24 other countries, reports the Daily Star.
Emily Vacher, director of trust and safety at Meta, said: "We know that the chances of finding a missing child increase when more people are on the lookout, especially in the first few hours.
“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.”
In America an Amber Alert stands for America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response.
It was created in reference to Amber Rene Hagerman, a girl who was abducted and later found murdered in 1996.
The decision to declare an Amber Alert is made by each police organisation investigating each missing child.
In cases of suspected abduction, public information in an alert usually consists of the name and description of the abductee, a description of the suspected abductor, and a description and registration number of an abductor's vehicle if available.
