Instagram Map feature poses significant safety and privacy risks that could endanger youngsters, state AGs warn | Latest Tech News
Instagram’s controversial new “Map” feature carries “significant public safety and data privacy concerns” that could endanger youngsters, a bipartisan group of 37 state attorneys normal warned in a letter on Wednesday.
Instagram Map, launched Aug. 6 with little advance discover, allows customers to share their actual location with others on the app. The feature has drawn issues it could place kids and others at risk – particularly given Mark Zuckerberg’s poor observe file on defending person privacy.
In a Wednesday letter to Instagram chief Adam Mosseri, New Mexico AG Raúl Torrez and others demanded that Meta take a number of “urgent” steps to promote safety, including disabling the Map feature totally for underage customers and sending a “clear alert” on potential safety risks and how Instagram deliberate to use the placement data.
Instagram’s controversial Map feature is drawing scrutiny from state AGs.
“Unrestricted location-sharing features pose a particular risk for minors as they can be readily
used by inappropriate predators to identify and geographically target children in the real world,” the letter warned.
“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.”
Last week’s shock rollout of Instagram Map precipitated panic among customers, with one writing on Meta-owned Threads,“I can’t believe Instagram launched a map feature that exposes everyone’s location without any warning.”
Mosseri tried some injury control, writing in a post that “it looks mostly like people are confused” by the feature. The Instagram boss also famous that customers had to consent twice in order to decide in.
“No, no one is confused,” another person shot back. “My friends were screenshotting my location and sending it to me while we were scrambling trying to remove it. You are NOT listening to your users.”
Instagram claimed that customers could “choose to responsibly share your location with friends you pick using the Instagram map.” The feature is inactive by default, with customers needing to decide in to use it.
Critics have accused Mark Zuckerberg of having a questionable file on person safety. AFP via Getty Images
The company also claimed dad and mom would “have control over their location sharing experience on the map,” including receiving notifications if their little one begins sharing their location and the flexibility to control if they’ve access to the feature.”
“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,” Meta spokesman Andy Stone said in a assertion.
“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,” Stone added.
Top state prosecutors weren’t satisfied, demanding that Meta add a “simple, easy to access feature” permitting Instagram customers who had already opted in to disable Map at any time.
On Capitol Hill, Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) have already called on Zuckerberg to get rid of the Map feature.
Attorney General of New Mexico Raúl Torrez is pictured. Getty Images for Accountable Tech
The Wednesday letter’s other signers embrace Republicans Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has steadily taken legal motion against Meta and other Big Tech corporations, as nicely as Georgia’s Chris Carr, Alabama’s Steven Marshall, Arkansas’s Tim Griffin, Illinois’s Kwame Raoul, Nevada’s Aaron Ford and South Dakota’s Marty Jackley and others.
“Meta and Instagram have a responsibility to prioritize user safety over product novelty,” the officers said. “We expect your prompt action and response to prevent Instagram from continuing practices that endanger the safety and privacy of its users.”
Proton, which operates a privacy-focused electronic mail service, said Meta’s “past controversies and financial incentives raise questions about the safety of sharing your location data.” It also warned that location-sharing “creates opportunities for cyberstalking.”
Instagram Map is turned off by default, according to Meta. Meta
The scrutiny is another potential headache for Meta, which faces a number of pending lawsuits at the federal and state stage over its failure to defend youngsters online.
New Mexico is at the moment suing Meta after uncovering evidence that it had uncovered youngsters to grownup intercourse content and disgusting messages from alleged little one predators, including “pictures and videos of genitalia.”
As The Post reported, Meta’s security points also surfaced at the FTC’s antitrust trial looking for a compelled selloff of Instagram – with the feds revealing inside paperwork that confirmed staffers panicking about so-called “groomers” focusing on youngsters on the app.
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