Instagram’s new location-sharing update is raising privacy concerns, with users reporting their whereabouts were shared without their knowledge despite Meta saying the update is opt-in.
Experts warn that location-sharing features are linked to a higher risk of tech-based coercive control.
The controversy follows other recent privacy issues for Meta, including a lawsuit over the misuse of sensitive health data from a women’s health tracking app.
Isn’t this the same thing Snapchat did years ago?
Still does. This article should have been a PSA about an on-going issue with multiple apps, but they insisted on a villain to blame as somehow being worse than others. All of these apps will randomly and repeatedly ask to enable such things; They have done so for years and years.
That they haven’t done, in my experience. I deleted Snapchat a while ago, but I don’t recall it prompting me repeatedly to enable location. I’m still on Instagram now, and I’ve had the location permission off probably forever, and I’ve never noticed it asking for it.
Snapchat is not one I expected to be an exception, but I don’t use it and I prevented my kids from using it until they turned 16(ish?). Took that long for them to demonstrate anything like critical thinking and self-restraint re: social media.