A bipartisan group of 37 state attorneys general cautioned in a letter on Wednesday that Instagram's new Map feature may pose risks related to public safety and data privacy, particularly for children, the New York Post first reported.
"Unrestricted location-sharing features pose a particular risk for minors as they can be readily used by sexual predators to identify and geographically target children in the real world," the letter cautioned. "We know that dangerous individuals are already present on Instagram, and we have serious concerns that this feature will increase the likelihood of hands-on abuse and exploitation."
Instagram Map, released on Aug. 6 without prior announcement, allows users to share their precise location with others through the app. Some have raised concerns about potential safety risks for children and other users, particularly in relation to user privacy.
In a letter sent to Instagram and Threads chief Adam Mosseri, New Mexico's Democrat Attorney General Raúl Torrez and others requested that Meta implement several measures to enhance safety. These included disabling the Map feature for users under 18 and providing a notification regarding potential safety risks and how Instagram intends to use location data.
Instagram has already received pushback from some users claiming they had received screenshots from friends of their location. Mosseri responded in a Threads post saying the user is given multiple chances to opt in, saying that users could "choose to responsibly share your location with friends you pick using the Instagram Map."
It is not the first time Meta has run afoul with users over the safety and privacy of its products. Meta announced new protections in April for teenagers in its Instagram app to prevent users under 16 from using the livestreaming feature without parental approval. Meta has clarified that under its supervision features, parents will get notified whenever a teen begins sharing his or her location on the Map and are able to turn off their teen's access at any time.
Some of the signatories on Wednesday's letter include Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton; Georgia's Chris Carr; Alabama's Steven Marshall; Arkansas' Tim Griffin; Illinois' Kwame Raoul; Nevada's Aaron Ford; South Dakota's Marty Jackley; and others. The letter follows on the heels of a similar bipartisan warning that came from Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., asking Meta to end the Map feature.
"Meta and Instagram have a responsibility to prioritize user safety over product novelty," the officials said. "We expect your prompt action and response to prevent Instagram from continuing practices that endanger the safety and privacy of its users."
In an official statement to Newsmax, a Meta spokesman said, "Real-time location features should of course be intentionally built and give users control, which is why Instagram Map's design already addresses the issues the attorneys general raise: it is off by default, everyone receives a notification explaining what the feature entails and can turn it off whenever they want, and with parental supervision, parents get a notification if their teen starts using it and can block their access to it at any time."
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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