Instagram location map feature called to be shut down by Sen. Blackburn, Blumenthal | Latest Tech News
Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., are pushing for Instagram’s new map feature to be shut down, raising questions about potential dangers to kids’s security.
In a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Friday, the lawmakers argued that kids might be put in hurt’s method after the rollout of the new map software, which permits customers to share their live location with their followers.
“For years, we have sounded the alarm regarding real-time location sharing on social media platforms— specifically when it comes to underage users—and we again urge you to protect children’s safety instead of potentially exposing their location to dangerous individuals online, including pedophiles and traffickers,” the letter reads.
Instagram customers can choose in to utilizing the map software and might also choose which followers can see their places, Meta said in a press release. Users might flip the feature off at any time.
A person’s location is up to date whenever they open the app or return to the app if it has been working in the background.
The new feature is turned off until a person opts in, the press release famous.
Instagram’s new map feature tracks customers’ location every time they use the app.
A person’s location is up to date whenever they open the app or return to the app if it has been working in the background. Rob Jejenich ? NY Post Design
Meta also said mother and father with supervision set up for their little one’s app will obtain a notification if their little one begins sharing their location.
“If you’re a parent with supervision set up for your teen, you have control over their location sharing experience on the map,” the press release said. “You will receive a notification if your teen starts sharing their location, giving you the opportunity to have important conversations about how to safely share with friends. You can decide whether your teen has access to location sharing on the map and see who your teen is sharing their location with.”
Instagram head Adam Mosseri also said on Thursday that the company is working on design enhancements “as quickly as possible.”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn walks through the Capitol Building with a telephone in her fingers on June 16, 2025. Getty Images
Sen. Richard Blumenthal speaks at a press convention at the US Capitol on July 30, 2025. ZUMAPRESS.com
But despite Meta’s assertion that customers’ places will keep turned off unless they allow the new software, the senators said some people have reported that their location was mechanically shared without their consent.
“This addition is a cause of particular concern for us when it comes to children and teens that are active on Instagram,” the lawmakers wrote. “Meta’s platforms have been consciously designed to prioritize profit over the protection of its most vulnerable users: our children.”
“While Meta has argued that parents with supervision settings on their children’s accounts have control over their location settings, it is clear that existing parental controls are not sufficient,” the letter continued. “Meta has made it difficult for parents to fully understand or utilize parental controls, leading to abuse, exploitation, and victimization of these precious children.”
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg attends a panel in San Francisco on Sept. 10, 2024. REUTERS
Blackburn and Blumenthal additional argued that Meta’s monitor file when it comes to defending kids online is “abysmal.”
“As you know, children often accept follow requests from individuals they do not know personally,” the lawmakers wrote. “Allowing children to share their real-time location and more readily displaying where they take pictures to strangers—many of whom may be pedophiles and traffickers—will only increase the dangers children face online due to your inaction.”
The letter accused Meta of “repeatedly” displaying that it might always fail to shield kids’s lives unless Congress passes laws.
Blackburn and Blumenthal additional argued that Meta’s monitor file when it comes to defending kids online is “abysmal.” Meta
Blackburn and Blumenthal have beforehand raised considerations about defending the protection of kids on Meta’s social media platforms, which embody Instagram and Facebook.
Last yr, the pair sponsored the Kids Online Safety Act, which handed the Senate last summer time but didn’t go the House. The measure was reintroduced in May.
The senators also wrote a letter to Meta in April, calling for accountability over allegations that the company is “failing to protect underage users from inappropriately explicit discussions with a new class of AI-powered digital chatbots.”
“Allowing the geolocation of minors on your platform is just the latest example of this sad reality,” the lawmakers wrote on Friday. “We urge you to immediately abandon Instagram’s map feature and instead institute meaningful protections for children online—they deserve nothing less.”
FOX Business has reached out to Meta for remark.
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