DOHA: The Ministry of Interior (MoI), in collaboration with Meta, on Wednesday launched the missing alert service to help find missing children and return them to their families by publishing missing alerts on Facebook and Instagram feeds.
Meta brought this service to Instagram last June after it successfully launched on Facebook.
Brig. Jamal Mohammed Al-Kaabi, Criminal Investigation DG, Brig. Abdullah Khalifa Al-Muftah, Director of Public Relations Dept., Emily Vacher, Director of Trust & Safety at Meta and Shaden Khallaf, Head of Public Policy for North Africa and the GCC at Meta, attended the ceremony.
This step by the Ministry of Interior comes as part of its continuous efforts to strengthen security and public safety in Qatar, ranked as the safest country in the world according to Numbeo Safety Index 2022.
It also aims to provide all available resources and options to enable community members to contribute to maintaining enhanced security in their communities, including applying advanced technologies and utilizing the available platforms to serve this purpose.
Furthermore, this will facilitate their cooperation with the competent authorities when they receive a missing alert via Instagram and Facebook.
The "Missing Alert" service is carried out through the AMBER Alert system on Facebook and Instagram. The alerts on missing children will appear to all users within 160 KM radius.
Users can also share the alert with their friends and reach a larger audience, thus helping identify and locate the missing child within a short period of time, as most of these incidents occur in highly crowded areas.
Brig. Abdullah Khalifa Al Muftah explained that the ministry is keen to make proactive efforts to ensure that crimes of all kinds are kept to a minimum. "Adopting a proactive approach is what keeps Qatar at the forefront of the safest countries in the world," he added.
Brig. Al Muftah expressed his gratitude towards Meta for the great cooperation that resulted in continuous meetings and coordination with the Ministry of Interior, praising the efforts of the work team.
Maj. Madawi Saeed Al-Qahtani, Assistant Director of the Economic and Cyber Crimes Combating Department, stressed that Qatar is always keen to support efforts to establish security and peace worldwide and this step is part of its support to develop safer societies for children.
"This service is yet another effort in the context of larger and more comprehensive efforts made by the ministry to maintain the security of residents and visitors alike, especially with the upcoming FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022," he said.
Emily Vacher, Director of Trust & Safety at Meta: “Qatar has become the first country in the Middle East to launch this smart alert on Facebook and Instagram at the same time. Meta is keen to cooperate with MoI and we look forward to strengthening this partnership.”
Shaden Khallaf, Meta's Head of Public Policy, North Africa and GCC: “Today in partnership with the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation at MoI, Meta is launching the AMBER alert programme in Qatar, reinforcing Meta's commitment to Qatar and the Middle East region."
"Facebook and Instagram are highly used platforms reliant on photos, which make them perfect for the AMBER Alert program," she said.
We understand that photographs are important in the search for missing children and by expanding the reach to users across Facebook and Instagram, we are able to reach more people and increase the chances of finding children faster," Khallaf added.
