TEXAS (KXAN) — A new pilot program between The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and TikTok will feature AMBER Alerts on the social media app to help bolster public awareness and response efforts.
The pilot program will launch with in-app AMBER Alerts for users in Texas. Dr. John Bischoff, vice president for NCMEC’s Missing Children Division, said kicking off the initiative in Texas links to the AMBER Alert’s roots in the Lone Star State.
“Texas as a whole is always a great starting point. It was the first place where AMBER Alert started, back in the late 90s with Amber Hagerman and the tragic story there,” Bischoff said. “So for us, Texas has always been such a wonderful partner with us at the National Center. It just seemed like a great fit for us to start testing the new TikTok feed for the Texas residents — of which there have been three so far.”
When it came to collaborating with TikTok, Bischoff said NCMEC is always working to build partnerships with agencies who can help disseminate information regarding children who are missing and in critical danger. Bischoff said these supplemental platforms along with the traditional AMBER Alert format can help amplify messaging to as many people as possible.
Lili Nguyen, head of risk and response operations at TikTok USDS, told KXAN the collaboration with NCMEC has been in development for quite some time. She said the issue of combatting child sex trafficking, exploitation and abductions are near to her heart, following her time as a prosecutor working on cases involving crimes against children.
“We all experience AMBER Alerts — some on our mobile devices and if you’re driving down the freeway as well,” she said. “And we really wanted to be able to utilize our platform to also meet people where they are in order to just get this information out further.”
With the new pilot program came the need to tailor AMBER Alerts to TikTok’s visual layout. Since TikTok is a vertical application, Bischoff said NCMEC staff worked with TikTok’s engineers and development team to make sure the core messaging and information got out to the public.
“It had to be designed to fit [TikTok’s] needs, and we worked through many iterations with their engineers and their development team to make it look as appropriate and eye catching as possible,” he said. “Each platform that we work with, the messaging, the look of the messaging is going to be slightly different, but the messaging — the core messaging — remains the same: A child’s in danger, and we need the community’s help.”
Through this collaboration, Nguyen said the AMBER Alerts will pop up on TikTok users’ “For You” feed as a card and will include any information NCMEC has available. Those could feature photos of the missing child and potentially of the abductor, information on any vehicles involved, the location where the abduction occurred as well as any identifiable information related to the child or suspect.
Along with the AMBER Alert description, TikTok will include a direct link to NCMEC’s website to connect users with more information, and TikTok will also add a direct button for users to call 9-1-1 should they have any information on the case, Nguyen added.
While AMBER Alerts are a critical component of NCMEC’s work, the organization also focuses on messaging for parents, caregivers, law enforcement and children themselves on how to stay safe online. Those safety tips are also being incorporated into NCMEC’s TikTok presence, with Nguyen stressing the importance of those online resources. She added TikTok will also contribute $100,000 in ad credits to help push the information out on its platforms.
“By meeting people where they are, as many platforms and other ways where we can reach folks and get this information out, we should definitely be doing that,” she said, adding: “So if you’re not watching the news in that moment, but you happen to be on your phone — which has become such an integral part of many of our lives — it’s just another way for us to get this information out.”
Starting in Texas, Bischoff said the pilot will expand nationwide to all 50 states. Each state has the ultimate decision on whether to activate an AMBER Alert or not — if they choose to do so, NCMEC will receive that information in their feed and amplify it through their own means as well as through partners like TikTok, Facebook, X and other social media tools.
“TikTok is turning into a wonderful partner for us, but this is the role we do as a national child-serving organization,” he said. “We work with the private sector to amplify these messages of missing children — not just with AMBER Alerts, but for all missing child cases across the United States.”