Topline
Instagram rolled out a new feature this week allowing users to share their location with a select group of followers, resembling a years-old feature Snapchat pioneered, though the map is sparking a mixed response on social media and some members of Congress have already raised concerns about user safety and privacy.
Instagram began rolling out the map feature to all users Wednesday, allowing them to see select users’ locations as well as posts and stories that have been tagged to certain locations.
Users have to opt in to share their location, and the feature is customizable, meaning users can choose to share their location with only select followers or those on their “close friends” list.
Some users and members of Congress have expressed concern the new feature could expose young Instagram users to danger, because if they opt to share their location, the feature will pinpoint their location on a map.
Instagram said in a press release it has implemented certain guardrails for privacy protection, including parental controls that notify parents when their child shares their location and who they shared it with, or allows them to block their child’s ability to share location.
A Meta spokesperson told Forbes in a statement: “Instagram Map is off by default, and your live location is never shared unless you choose to turn it on. If you do, only people you follow back—or a private, custom list you select—can see your location.”
Some users on X were highly critical of the new Instagram map feature, citing privacy concerns. One user garnered nearly 200,000 likes in an all-caps post urging users to turn their location off on Instagram “right now.” Valentina Voight, founder of the lingerie brand Voight, said “Instagram turning on our exact location to thousands of people to see is actually terrifying” in a post on X. One TikTok user garnered more than 200,000 likes on a video urging followers to turn their locations off on Instagram, calling the map feature “dangerous.”
Though the feature is opt-in only and just viewable by select users, the feature has sparked concern from advocacy groups and members of Congress. After TechCrunch reported last year Instagram was developing a map-based, location-sharing feature, a pair of House representatives penned a letter to Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri urging him to abandon the plan. Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., and Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., wrote in May 2024 that “geolocation surveillance of minors is an unnecessary violation of privacy” and the “public sharing of that information puts young users at risk of further surveillance, violence and unsolicited interactions,” such as “stalking, sextortion, and worse.” Trahan and Castor urged Mosseri to ditch the feature and asked whether the company had researched how location sharing can impact young users’ mental health and safety, as well as how the company plans to protect its young users from bad actors. Also in May 2024, online safety campaign director at advocacy group Parents Together, Shelby Knox, told local Seattle outlet Kiro 7 “predators” and “drug dealers” could use the feature to find kids who have shared their location on the map and urged Congress to pass legislation regulating online safety on social media. Last year, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., slammed the planned Instagram map in a post on X, stating social media platforms need to protect the safety of young users instead of “exposing their real-time location to pedophiles and traffickers.”
The Instagram map feature resembles the Snap Map, a feature on Snapchat that launched in 2017 and similarly allows users to share their location with their friends. Users can view their friends’ locations, as well as Snapchats uploaded by users around the world, on the map. Childnet International, a U.K.-based group advocating for children’s online safety, said in a blog post upon launch of the Snap Map it would “encourage users not to share their location, especially with people they don’t know in person,” expressing concern over how the feature shows a user’s “precise” location on a map. Cybersecurity consultant Charles Tendell told ABC News in 2017 it is “very easy to accidentally share everything that you've got with more people than you need to.” Snapchat has defended the feature, telling ABC News location sharing is opt-in only and optional for all users, adding users can customize who they share location with. Members of Congress have also criticized the Snap Map. Blackburn sent a letter to Snap Inc. in 2019 calling Snapchat a “child predator’s dream” and alleging the Snap Map “can reveal the location of gullible child users to complete strangers.” During a Senate hearing with social media executives in 2021, Blackburn alleged “sexual predators” could use the Snap Map to target children. Jennifer Stout, vice president of global public policy for Snap Inc., responded that Snapchat makes it “intentionally difficult for strangers to find people that they don't know” by not making profiles publicly viewable to non-friends, and said location sharing is opt-in only and available just between friends.
Instagram announced the new map feature Wednesday alongside updates to Reels. The app now allows users to repost Reels, which will recommend them to their friends and appear on the user’s profile, while also adding a new tab where users can find Reels their friends have interacted with.
Instagram takes on Snapchat with new ‘Instagram Map’ (TechCrunch)
Snapchat's new map feature raises fears of stalking and bullying (The Guardian)