Yesterday, Meta introduced a that’s almost identical to Snapchat’s Snap Map. The feature has quickly sparked a backlash, though, and not just because it’s yet another example of Instagram ripping off a Snapchat feature.
While the map requires users to opt-in to share their location, many users were surprised and alarmed to see that their Instagram map was already populated with the locations of some accounts when it launched. That’s because the map automatically pulls in location info when someone has recently shared a Story or Reel with a location tagged.
For example, I posted a Story that tagged San Francisco’s botanical gardens and it tagged me there on Instagram’s map even though I have my map location set to share with “no one.” This isn’t that different from how Instagram has worked in the past: location tags have always been visible to your followers, and the app has always had a map view that let people see public posts that have been tagged with specific places.
My story post tagged me on Instagram’s map even though location is set to “no one” because I tagged a location (in this case San Francisco’s botanical gardens).
(Instagram screenshot)
But Instagram’s map makes this information much more prominent and easy to access. While before you would have to tap into specific posts to see location tags, the new map puts all of this into a single view. Depending on how often you tag locations, this can make it seem like your real-time info is being shared, even when it isn’t.
All that, combined with Meta’s messy history with user privacy, has understandably ignited new concerns from people worried about their location being accidentally exposed by Instagram. Some users have questioned why the map exists at all given the potentially serious implications of unknowingly sharing your location with all of your Instagram mutuals.
It’s also led to a lot of misunderstanding. A number of prominent accounts on Threads have suggested that location sharing is on by default. At the time of this writing, “Instagram map” is the top trend on Threads, with more than 850,000 posts — most of which are privacy related. Instagram head Adam Mosseri has replied to more than a dozen accounts attempting to explain how it actually works.
Instagram map was the top trend on Threads due to widespread privacy concerns.
(Screenshot / Threads)
“We’re double checking everything, but so far it looks mostly like people are confused and assume that, because they can see themselves on the…