New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez and Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, along with 35 other states, have expressed concerns over Instagram's new location-sharing feature. The feature allows users' precise real-time locations to be displayed on a map, raising privacy and safety issues, particularly for vulnerable groups such as children and survivors of domestic violence.
"Instagram is once again prioritizing engagement over safety and has enabled a potentially dangerous feature without first ensuring the safety of their users, especially kids," said New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez. He emphasized the risks to children from predators using this feature and called for it to be limited to adult users only. He also demanded that Instagram provide clear explanations of data usage and an easy way for adults to disable the feature.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr highlighted efforts in his state to protect children from predators and human traffickers. "Now, we’re asking the tech industry to work with us by imposing commonsense measures that will empower parents and keep kids safe online," he said.
The coalition's letter points out that unrestricted location-sharing can lead to stalking, harassment, and exploitation. It urges Instagram to take immediate steps to protect users by prohibiting minors from enabling location-sharing, providing clear alerts about the feature's risks, and allowing adults who opt-in to easily disable it.
The Attorneys General expect a prompt response from Instagram to prevent practices that could endanger its users. Additionally, the New Mexico Department of Justice is involved in ongoing litigation against Meta concerning its failure to protect young users.
The states joining New Mexico and Georgia in this effort include Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Tennessee Utah Vermont Virginia West Virginia Wyoming
Information from this article can be found here.
