Senators in the United States call upon Meta Platforms to discontinue the rollout of Instagram's latest mapping functionality
In a joint effort to safeguard children online, U.S. senators and state attorneys general have raised concerns about Instagram's new real-time location sharing feature. The feature, which allows users to share their physical location in real time with selected friends or followers, has sparked worry that it could expose children to potential harm.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) have led the charge, urging Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to discontinue the Instagram Map feature due to its risks to child safety. In a letter to Zuckerberg, they criticised Meta's track record on protecting children online and called for stronger, transparent safety measures.
The senators' concerns are not unfounded. Reports have emerged of instances where location data was shared without explicit consent or where parental controls have been insufficient to prevent minors from sharing their location. Some users have even reported that their locations were shared automatically.
The map feature includes a map of the U.S., showing where users are active, and their locations are updated every time they use the app. This constant updating could potentially put children at risk, as their locations could be visible to dangerous individuals such as predators, pedophiles, and traffickers.
The senators have suggested that the Kids Online Safety Act, a bipartisan bill introduced earlier this year by Blackburn and Blumenthal, is necessary to ensure Meta's protection of children's lives. The bill aims to protect kids online and raise awareness of the destructive harm caused by social media platforms.
Beyond the Senate, a bipartisan coalition of 37 state attorneys general, led by Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, has also called on Instagram to strengthen safety around location-sharing. They demand prohibitions on minors from enabling location sharing, clear alerts outlining the risks to adult users, and simple controls to disable location sharing at any time.
This group emphasized the need for Instagram to prioritize user safety over product novelty, especially to protect vulnerable users, including children and domestic violence survivors, from exploitation by malicious actors.
Meta, however, has maintained that users must opt in to use the feature, and their location will not be shared unless they do so. The company also states that parents with supervision settings for their children's accounts can control their location settings.
Despite these claims, the senators argue that Meta's parental controls are difficult to understand, potentially leading to abuse, exploitation, and victimization of children. They also suggest that the feature could be used to further addict children to social media.
In light of these concerns, it remains to be seen whether Instagram will take steps to address these issues and ensure the safety of its younger users. The senators' letter to Zuckerberg marks a significant call to action in the ongoing battle to protect children online.
[1] The Verge [2] TechCrunch [3] CNN [4] The Hill
- The ongoing debate about Instagram's real-time location sharing feature has extended to the realm of policy-and-legislation, with senators and state attorneys general expressing concerns about its implications for child safety. blogs like The Verge, TechCrunch, CNN, and The Hill are reportedly following this story closely.
- Instead of just relying on parents' supervision settings and users opting in to use the feature, it is crucial for Instagram to prioritize general-news and entertainment-related content while strengthening safety measures, especially when it comes to protecting children from potential harm. This call to action has been echoed by a bipartisan coalition of senators and state attorneys general, with some advocating for the Kids Online Safety Act.
