Some 170 million people have accessed Instagram's new location-sharing feature, so why is the map so empty? In the farthest reaches of the app, Meta and its users may be waging a silent battle.
On Saturday, I opened my phone's settings and did something I hadn't considered in almost a decade—a move so brazen that I've spent my entire career warning people to avoid it. I shared my location with Instagram.
Last week, millions of Americans were greeted by a pop-up inviting them to try the new "Instagram Map." This feature allows users to share their precise location with each other in real time. If you want, you can send your location to any of your shared followers. However, for many, the app's history makes it an unsettling place for this kind of intimacy.
Instagram touts Maps as a "lightweight new way to connect." However, a closer look at the feature suggests a different reality, defined more by emptiness than connection, where users unknowingly share their location and receive urgent alerts from a handful of followers. This exposes a growing conflict between the platform and its users, striking at the very heart of Instagram: why even bother with this app?
On the one hand, this is nothing new. Apple and Android phones have allowed location sharing with contacts for years, and Snapchat has a nearly identical Snap Map that works the same way. In modern relationships, location sharing is as popular as it is problematic. The New York Times described this trend with the catchy headline "I Love You, Let's Follow Each Other" in 2023.
But Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has a checkered history when it comes to privacy. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has personally apologized numerous times over the years for his company's mismanagement of user data, which has cost Meta billions of dollars in fines and lawsuits. The company assures users that it cares about their privacy and is committed to earning back their trust.
But I wondered who was volunteering for Meta's new social surveillance experiment? What would it feel like to reveal your location to every one of your friends on Instagram? I wanted to find out, so I adjusted my privacy settings and ventured into the unknown corners of Maps.
My first problem was that Instagram doesn't make it easy to find Maps. Several people I asked said they wanted to try it but didn't know where to look. I finally found it hidden under a globe icon in the messages tab. Instagram guided me through the available options. Do I want to share my location with all my friends, users on my "Close Friends" list, or a select group? I even got a second pop-up asking if I was sure.
As GPS satellites triangulated my coordinates, Apple sent the data via my phone to Instagram's servers. A small dot with my face hovered directly over my New York apartment. For a moment, I felt a strange pang of vulnerability.
Even stranger was the realization that I was almost completely alone. I expected to find at least a few other brave souls on the Map, but out of my hundreds of Instagram contacts, exactly one person was using the feature, across the continent in Los Angeles.
There was a person called Highland Hall, a former coworker from the music shop I was employed at prior to college. Hall and I weren't very close then, and a third of my life has gone by since we last talked. I messaged him directly. The Map was assisting us in making connections, precisely as Instagram claims it is meant to do.
"I remember that you could see posts by location, like years ago; it was an enjoyable feature," Hall stated. "I mostly wanted to discover what the feature entailed and was quite let down." Lol.
I mentioned that I was taken aback to find no one else utilizing the Map. Are my friends and I simply too old, moving beyond the target demographic? Or maybe I'm disliked, and everyone is happily sharing places without my inclusion. You can never be certain. Regardless of the truth, I mentioned to Hall that the entire situation felt somewhat solitary. "Similar to every social platform," he remarked.
Hall remarked that the privacy concerns did not trouble him. "I believe they already possess that data." I usually post about a week later, so it's never a reflection of my current location.
However, he was incorrect. I clarified that he was indeed indicating precisely where he was at that time. "I didn't zoom in since I assume this is your home," I mentioned.
The revelation caused a lengthy silence before Hall replied. "I simply switched it off," he mentioned.
Hall isn't the sole individual perplexed by the new feature. Adam Mosseri, who leads Instagram, dedicated the weekend to mitigating backlash from furious users on Threads, the app that serves as the company's response to X, previously known as Twitter.
Regardless of your decision to share your live location, any public photos, videos, and Stories appear on the Map if you've included location tags in those specific posts. Evidently, many individuals noticed this and believed Instagram was gathering fresh data without their consent.
I went through numerous replies from Mosseri to these grievances, which appeared increasingly frustrated over time. "That's incorrect," Mosseri stated in reply to a complaint that has since been removed. "You have the option to share your location if you choose, but we do not disclose anyone's location unless they choose to do so."
A representative from Meta informed me that the Map is initially disabled, and only individuals you have followed back can view your location, unless you decide to restrict the list even more. My friend, they mentioned, must have chosen to share his location during the Map's setup phase.
"Hannah Law, a 26-year-old Instagram user and geotechnical engineer from Salt Lake City, US, states, 'It seems they have no grasp of their user demographic.'" "Instagram is not a personal app where you'd want others to be aware of your whereabouts." The function appears to be inspired by Snapchat's Map, she notes, but Snapchat seems more oriented towards cautious personal interaction. "Instagram was developed and created to serve as a platform for sharing your life." "I’m far more prone to being stalked by an Instagram follower than a Snapchat friend."
A spokesperson for Meta emphasized that users can manage who views their location and noted that parents utilizing supervision tools receive alerts when teenagers activate the feature.
"Individuals have consistently turned to Instagram to showcase their activities and locations," Meta stated in a blog entry. "Regardless of how you utilize the map, you and your friends now have a fresh, lightweight method to engage with one another."
Lately, Meta has promoted a shift from public posts to sending messages privately. Mosseri refers to the change as a "paradigm shift" that illustrates user behavior throughout the social media landscape, instead of being a top-down initiative from the company.
"There's certainly a change in the way individuals are engaging with social media, particularly younger users." "This sharing of location appears to be a logical progression of this," remarks Lorrie Cranor, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in the US who examines app interfaces concerning privacy, security, and public policy. "However, Instagram appears not to be tailored for a more intimate group experience." I wonder if individuals truly desire their Instagram friends to be aware of so much about them all day, every day. Overall, social media features enabling people to monitor one another are frequently contentious.
The initial suggestion we have is to switch it off. The safety issues are significant, and there's a genuine risk of abuse – Robbie Torney.
Certain specialists worry that these tools could lead to mental health and social issues. A study conducted by the child advocacy organization Common Sense Media revealed that 45% of teenage girls reported that location sharing had a "mostly negative" impact on them.
"We're not a group that is clearly against social media, since children inform us there are several advantages," states Robbie Torney, senior director of AI programs at Common Sense Media. "However, children have expressed that tracking sharing generates social anxieties regarding their whereabouts, concerns about missing out, and worries about whether their friends are spending time together without them." It can increase the difficulty of blending in, generating pressure to indicate that you belong to the group, while also making it simpler to show that you do not belong.
Not only do children encounter that kind of issue. I've come across several negative accounts from individuals who utilize Apple's "Find My Friends" location-sharing function. Uncomfortable inquiries arise when an individual is left off a party invitation. An envious former partner appears at the pub. A disturbing friend focuses a bit too closely on your activities. When issues occur, denying someone access to your location can lead to social repercussions.
"The first thing we would recommend is to switch it off," especially if you are a parent overseeing your child's internet activity, Torney advises. "The safety concerns are significant, and there is a true possibility for abusive usage."
Location data is likely the most sensitive kind of information that is often extracted from your phone. Your everyday activities can indicate your residence, your workplace, your companions, and even your children's school. Visiting a specialist's office may reveal your health issues. Participate in a demonstration, and it records your political views. Going to a gay bar implies information about your sexual orientation through your location data. It's also, of course, extremely beneficial to businesses that earn revenue through advertising, like Meta, enabling them to target you with localized ads and draw more conclusions about your identity and preferences.
Consult any privacy specialist, and they'll inform you that one of the key methods to safeguard yourself is to be as economical as you can when applications request to monitor your location. It's guidance I've included in more articles than I can count. The irony lingered around me as I observed my small dot moving across Instagram's Map while I took the subway.
Several days later, I received an Instagram message from a former girlfriend. "Hi, I want to let you know that you're disclosing your precise location." "Be careful, it made me anxious," she stated.
I expressed my gratitude to her and mentioned that it was fine since I was doing it for a story. Then, I switched it off.
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