Viral post claims Instagram shares users’ location with followers, CEO Adam Mosseri reacts
India Today
The viral post notes that a recent iOS update enables people to find your exact location from Instagram.
A viral post claiming Instagram shares your location with your followers is doing the rounds on the internet. The post notes that a recent iOS update enables people to find your exact location from Instagram. It further added that criminals and stalkers are misusing the feature to find people and break into their homes. However, CEO Adam Mosseri has now reacted to the post going viral. In a Twitter post, Mosseri has denied sharing people’s locations on Instagram.
Sharing a thread on Twitter, Mosseri wrote, “Wanted to share this for clarity. Location Services is a device set on your phone, not a new feature from Instagram, and it powers things like location tags. We don’t share your location with other people.” Instagram too shared from its official account that the photo sharing app uses precise location for things like location tags and maps features. “People can manage Location Services via their device settings, and tag locations on their posts if they want to share that information,” the post read.
A couple of days ago, an Instagram user named myanichol, who claims to be an Instagram expert and business coach, shared long posts about how the app shares users' location. The user claimed that a recent iOS update will let people find your exact location from Instagram. She went on to claim that if you share a location tag on Instagram, it will show your exact location vs a general location. She then suggested users turn off the precise location on your iPhone.
“According to Instagram, they don’t share your “precise location” but simply the location YOU choose to share and tag in your content I'm not a data or online security expert but I’d assume, like all data online, it is still tracked and could be found + used. I believe that “precise locations” should be turned off and awareness around this setting and others that effect online safety need to be talked about more,” she wrote.
