The Ministry of Interior (MoI), in collaboration with Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, Wednesday launched the missing alert service. Meta brought the service to Instagram last June after it successfully launched on Facebook.
Brig Jamal Mohamed al-Kaabi, director general of Criminal Investigation; Brig Abdullah Khalifa al-Muftah, director of Public Relations Department at MoI; Emily Vacher, director of Trust and Safety at Meta and Shaden Khallaf, Public Policy for North Africa and the GCC at Meta, attended the ceremony at the Criminal Investigation Department office at Duhail.
The MoI’s new step 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.
Senior MoI officials attending the ceremony.
The service aims to provide all available resources and options to enable society members to contribute to maintaining enhanced security in their communities including harnessing advanced technologies, utilising the available platforms to serve this purpose, and facilitating their co-operation with the competent authorities when they receive a 'Mafqoud/Missing' notification via Instagram and Facebook.
The AMBER Alerts on missing children will appear to all Facebook and Instagram users within a 160km 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.
While addressing the ceremony, Brig al-Muftah said 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 said, expressing his gratitude towards Meta for the great co-operation that resulted in continuous meetings and co-ordination with the Ministry of Interior, praising the efforts of the work team, which starts from receiving the case report and passing it to Meta until its publication on Instagram and Facebook.
Maj Madawi Saeed al-Qahtani, assistant director of the Economic and Cyber Crimes Combating Department, said the service is yet another effort in the context of larger and more comprehensive efforts made by the MoI to maintain the security of residents and visitors alike, especially with the upcoming FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
Meta's Vacher said Qatar has become the first country in the Middle East to launch the smart alert on Facebook and Instagram at the same time.
Shaden Khallaf, Meta's head of Public Policy, North Africa and GCC, said that the launch reinforces Meta's commitment to Qatar and the Middle East region with the local partnership.
