Instagram Map Could Be A Privacy Nightmare—How To Turn It Off
So, what's the big deal with Instagram's Map feature and how do you turn it off?
What Is Instagram's New Map Feature And Why Is It A Problem?
Rolled out last week, the Map feature allows people to share their location with a select group of followers. It's actually similar to a feature used on social media rival Snapchat, but Meta's Instagram has been widely-criticised, with concerns centring on privacy and security of sharing your Instagram location with others.
The Map feature could allow someone to pinpoint your location and track you down, potentially putting people at risk. Many of the concerns shared on social media sites including Reddit and X center around teens, who might not realize the implications of sharing their whereabouts with others.
Location sharing is off unless you opt in, Instagram owner Meta — which also owns Facebook and WhatsApp — said in a press release.
If you do share your location with friends, your location is updated whenever you open the app or return to the app if it's been running in the background.
If you tag a location in your Instagram story, post, or reel using the location sticker, the content will appear on the map for 24 hours. This shows the place you tagged to your followers — it does not share your real-time or live location, according to Meta.
The Instagram Map feature is only available in the U.S., with the press release saying more global availability will be coming soon.
While Instagram Map may offer convenient ways to discover content or meet up with friends, it also opens the door to 'even more forced oversharing masquerading as a fun feature,' says Jake Moore, global cybersecurity advisor at ESET.
'Social media companies are desperate to know more about their users, but this doesn't just risk platforms knowing their user's whereabouts, it also opens up their location to all their followers — who they often don't know that well,' Moore warns.
How To Turn Instagram Map Off
You don't actually need to turn Instagram Map off, but you can make sure you don't enable it in the first place.
'Instagram Map is off by default, and your live location is never shared unless you choose to turn it on,' a Meta spokesperson told me.
If you do enable it, only people you follow back — or a private, custom list you select —can see your location, the Meta spokesperson adds.
If you're a parent with supervision set up for your teen, you have control over their location sharing experience on the map. '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,' Meta says. 'You can decide whether your teen has access to location sharing on the map and see who your teen is sharing their location with.'
If you have already enabled Map, you can go and disable it now.
Tap Messages' in the top right of your feed, then Map > Settings > No one. Don't forget to select Update at the bottom to save your changes.
While Map remains off by default for now and only activates if you opt in, it is worth checking the feature every so often, says Moore. 'Some features turn on unexpectedly over newer updates in apps,' he warns.
Instagram Map might seem a cool new feature, but it's easy to see why concerns are growing. If you care about your privacy, it's probably a good idea to keep Instagram Map turned off and if you are a teen parent, advise your child to do the same.
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