North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson has joined a bipartisan coalition of 37 attorneys general calling for Instagram to take swift action to make the company’s new map feature safer. The Meta-owned platform rolled out the Instagram Map feature in mid-August, and it has raised concerns over user privacy and safety.
”The feature, which Instagram rolled out over the past weekend, displays users’ precise, real-time locations on Instagram’s map interface. When a user posts a story, reel, or post, the map tags their location with that post for the next 24 hours”, according to a press release from Jackson’s office.
In a letter to the CEO of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, the coalition warns that the feature could endanger its users. “This functionality, if not carefully controlled, poses clear risks of stalking, harassment, and other forms of exploitation,” the letter reads.
The letter points to the danger the feature poses for vulnerable groups such as minors and victims of domestic violence, whose location could now be openly available to malicious actors.
Durham-based cybersecurity expert Kimberly Simon warns that the feature can turn users’ phones into a GPS for anyone watching.
“Real-time location sharing turns social media from a scrapbook into a road map for strangers. So what feels like harmless location sharing can instantly turn your social media into a GPS for anyone watching,” Simon told WRAL.
Simon also warns of the danger the feature poses for the social media site’s users. “It’s particularly dangerous for children, whose location may be seen by sexual predators and other criminals who might use that information to target kids offline. Similarly, the information puts victims of violence, including domestic abuse survivors, at risk of being targeted by their abusers or stalkers,” stated Simon.
The coalition of attorneys general insists that Instagram and its parent company, META, have a responsibility to prioritize user safety and is calling for Instagram to:
- Ensure that minors are not allowed to enable location-sharing features.
- Send a clear alert to all adult users explaining the feature, outlining its risks, and including a comprehensive disclosure of how Instagram intends to use their location data.
- For those adults who have chosen to opt in to location sharing, allow a simple, easy-to-access feature that allows users to disable at any time
“Our children’s safety comes first,” said AG Jackson. “Instagram needs to do some clean up on its location-sharing feature so we can keep children and victims safe – and it needs to do so now.”
AG Jackson urges those concerned with how Instagram uses their data to access the platform’s help center. If you’re an Instagram user, you can turn the new location sharing feature off by doing the following:
- On the Instagram app, go to the Messages tab in the top right corner.
- Click on “Map”.
- Click on the “Settings” gear in the top right corner and choose to share your location with no one. You may also edit who you share your location with.
