Facebook Launches AMBER Alerts To Help Find Missing Children
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Facebook users will soon receive AMBER Alerts to help find missing children who may be located near them.
Facebook Inc. is working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to send the alerts to users' mobile phones if they are in a search area where a child has been abducted.
Facebook says people are already using its site to encourage their friends and family to help find missing children and that several children have been reunited with their families as a result of information shared on the site.
"For most people, these alerts will be rare because they will only go to people who are in a position to help – those specifically within the designated search area," Emily Vacher, Facebook safety, trust and security manager, said in a statement. "If you get an alert on Facebook it means there is an active search for a missing child going on around you. The alert will provide the critical information you need to potentially help reunite a child with his or her family."
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said the new initiative is the latest by Facebook to ensure public safety on its platform following an agreement last year to put safeguards in place to prevent illegal gun sales on its site.
"Today's announcement shows that responsible technology companies can use innovation not only to protect their own users, but also to enable users to help their own communities," Schneiderman said in a statement.
Last March, a missing 11-year-old girl was found in a South Carolina motel room when a motel clerk called police after seeing an AMBER Alert on Facebook, according to the company and reports at the time.
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