CBS News – Facebook has partnered with the Department of Justice to deliver AMBER Alerts via your news feed.
Starting Tuesday, Facebook will receive alerts issued by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and disseminate any information – such as a photo of a missing child, a license plate number or name and description of the suspected abductor – to Facebook users in the search area.
Since the AMBER Alert system was instituted in 1996, it has helped in the recovery of over 700 missing children, including two within the past month.
In a statement Tuesday morning, Attorney General Eric Holder said, “Facebook’s geo-targeted alerts and Bing’s online broadcast tools will give AMBER Alerts an expanded social media and Internet presence – extending our web of child protection resources into new and critical areas.”
Bing started including AMBER Alerts in search results in December.
Holder went on to say, “Protecting the well-being of our young people is a responsibility that falls to every American. Each of us can help by paying close attention to alerts that come in – and by making sure you are plugged into the AMBER Alert network via social media.”
Facebook said that the alerts are shareable and link directly to the National Center’s missing child poster, where users can find the most up-to-date information about a case.
