TikTok is partnering with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to bring Amber Alerts to American users’ For You pages. This initiative aims to rapidly disseminate critical information about missing children to a wider audience.
Amber Alerts are activated in the most serious child abduction cases. These alerts, a standard feature on most mobile devices, can override default phone settings to deliver crucial details about the missing child, including their name, age, description, and any available information about the suspected abductor and their vehicle.
TikTok initially piloted this program from August to December of last year, resulting in over 20 million views and 2.5 million visits to the NCMEC website. Now, TikTok is expanding this feature to its more than 170 million American users. Importantly, Amber Alerts will only be displayed to users in relevant geographic locations.
TikTok logo on an iPhone.
“Time is crucial when a child goes missing,” says Colleen Nick, CEO of the Morgan Nick Foundation. “Using platforms like TikTok, communities can quickly spread vital information and help locate missing children. After a successful Texas pilot, this national expansion will enable more communities to raise awareness and bring missing children home quickly. Precious children are counting on us to do everything we can to rescue them.”
This expansion of Amber Alerts on TikTok demonstrates the platform’s ongoing commitment to enhancing safety measures, especially for its younger users. This feature joins other recent safety initiatives, such as a feature designed to interrupt late-night scrolling for teenage users with calming music and expanded parental controls that offer parents more granular control over their children’s platform usage.
TikTok is not the first social media platform to incorporate Amber Alerts; Instagram implemented a similar feature in 2022. This collaborative approach across social media platforms leverages the power of these networks to help protect vulnerable children and reunite them with their families.
This initiative underscores the potential of social media platforms to contribute positively to public safety and community well-being. By rapidly disseminating crucial information, TikTok aims to play a vital role in helping bring missing children home safely.
