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Instagram Launches Amber Alerts Feature

The missing children alerts will appear in users' feeds beginning Wednesday.

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Macy Meyer is a N.C. native who graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2021 with a B.A. in English and Journalism. She currently resides in Charlotte, N.C., where she has been working as an Editor I, covering a variety of topics across CNET's Home and Wellness teams, including home security, fitness and nutrition, smart home tech and more. Prior to her time at CNET, Macy was featured in The News & Observer, The Charlotte Observer, INDY Week, and other state and national publications. In each article, Macy helps readers get the most out of their home and wellness. When Macy isn't writing, she's volunteering, exploring the town or watching sports.
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Example of an AMBER Alert on Instagram

The Amber Alert feature will be launched in 25 countries. 

 Instagram

Instagram is rolling out a new Amber Alerts feature on Wednesday in honor of Global Missing Children's Day, which will allow app users to see and share notices of missing children in their area, according to a blog post from Instagram. 

The Amber Alert will be activated by law enforcement and will appear in the Instagram feed of users who are in the local area. The alert will include a photo of the missing person, with other key details of the abduction such as location and physical description, which can then be reshared or reposted. 

"Instagram is a platform based on the power of photos, making it a perfect fit for the Amber Alert program," Michelle DeLaune, president and CEO at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, said in the blog post. "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."

The alert feature will be launched in 25 countries within the next couple of weeks, including the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Ukraine, Korea, Mexico and many more countries across Europe, Asia and South America.

Facebook launched an Amber Alerts feature in 2015 and has since posted hundreds of alerts from around the world to help authorities search and locate the missing child.

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