The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and TikTok are collaborating in a new pilot program to show AMBER Alerts on the app.
Texas is the first state to have the program, according to Vice President of NCMEC John Bischoff.
“Texas has been very active in alerting AMBER Alerts. It was such a great test bed for us. We’re three alerts into testing this,” he said. “And there’s no doubt in my mind that this will be promoted further across the United States.”
Texas issued the most AMBER Alerts last year, with over a fourth of all alerts nationwide coming from the state. The AMBER Alert also originated from Texas, according to NCMEC, after a 9-year-old Arlington girl went missing in 1996.
Lili Nguyen is the U.S. Data Security Head of Risk and Response Operations at TikTok. She said the new program will have alerts on the app that show a missing child and include a button to call 911 directly from the app if a person has information.
“Speed is so critical in order to address abductions and any crime. And the more that information can get into the hands of more people, and there’s more awareness, I do believe that it will increase the chances of a child being found,” Nguyen said.
There were 185 AMBER alerts nationwide last year; 49 were in Texas. According to the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, there are about 460,000 missing children reported each year.
TikTok will also be donating $100,000 toward an online safety video series from NCMEC on the app. Many of the videos focus on current missing children and what to do when coming across exploitative content online.
https://www.tiktok.com/@ncmec/video/7208627344326626602?lang=en
Similar projects have been done in other social media apps like Instagram and Facebook, Bischoff said.
“There’s always things that don’t work as planned, but thank goodness, as a national child-serving organization with a great grasp on technology, and some of our partners just so well attuned to technology, we’re able to make those quickly spin into successes,” he said.
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