A recent post claiming that Instagram is sharing your precise location went viral across social media platforms. The post went viral after the rollout of the latest iOS update, which, according to many, enabled precise location sharing. Understandably, this led to both outrage and suspicion on social media.
However, it turns out that the post is a hoax. CEO of Instagram Adam Mosseri took to Twitter to explain the fallacy of the viral post. He reiterated the fact that location sharing is a device feature and not an Instagram feature. He also stated that the authority to share location remains with the users only. Mosseri clearly stated “We don’t share your location with other people”, putting all speculations to rest. A new feature will also be rolled out by Instagram to default new accounts for under-16-year-olds to the strictest settings.
This is not the first time Instagram and its parent company Meta have come under the radar for privacy issues. But this time, it’s not anything that Meta or Instagram has done that led to the controversy. Instead, it was a new iOS feature called precise location.
The new iOS feature called Precise Location Sharing is the reason behind this viral hoax. However, several Android phones already have this feature. This feature is useful for cab and ride-sharing apps since it allows access to the user’s exact location. While it may be a useful feature for some use cases, there are definitely some apprehensions regarding its misuse.
