Michigan Congresswoman Warns Parents Of New Instagram Map

Social media has been used use for several decades now to help individuals stay connected to their family, friends, and loved ones. It's also become a place for people to make new connections, share joyous memories, and raise awareness about a number of topics. It's become both a tool of prosperity and destruction over the last decade.

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Most of the time, people are using social media for ways to make more money or share significant news with the rest of their circle and sometimes the world, other times, social media can be used for some devious things. We have seen hackers, terrorists, and other ill-determined people use social media to cause chaos.

This creates a space where social media can be seen as unsafe for children and many adults to use the platforms. One of the biggest concerns parents have are strangers and predators having access to communicate or meet up with their children, these same concerns stretch to the survivors of abuse as well.

Have You Heard About Instagram's New Map Feature?

That's why U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan is speaking against a new feature that Instagram has added to their platform. MLive via MSN reports:

The new feature announced Aug. 6 allows Instagram users to share their location with friends. Users can opt in to sharing their last active location if they choose and turn it off anytime, according to Meta, Mark Zuckerberg’s company behind Facebook and Instagram. Whether users choose to share their location, they can use the map to explore location-based content, such as checking out stories from friends who’ve gone to a concert or finding a new place to hang out from a local creator’s reel, according to Meta.

Representative Dingell says this feature is dangerous to children and abuse survivors in Michigan and doesn't want to put them in any more danger than the world already poses. This isn't the first time Instagram has tried to use the map feature as a couple years ago the idea was introduced and phased out fairly quickly.

While Meta says that you can choose to opt in or out of sharing your location and can choose to share or stop sharing your location at any time, there have been instances of locations being shared without the user's consent.