Attorney General Gentner Drummond is ramping up pressure on Instagram. In a move to shield the vulnerable, Drummond, alongside 36 other state attorneys general, has launched an appeal to the social media giant. They're calling for heightened location privacy protections, particularly for minors who wander into the digital landscape often unsupervised. According to an official statement, Instagram’s new location-sharing feature may expose users, particularly younger individuals, to potential risks by making their movements visible to anyone who chooses to track them.
In a letter addressed to Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri, concerns were raised about the potential misuse of the new feature by predators and others with harmful intentions. "The dangers of the new location sharing feature can be prevented with a few commonsense but important measures," Drummond stated in the letter. The letter notes that the digital footprints users leave can attract the attention of a less virtuous crowd. As outlined in the statement obtained by Oklahoma’s Office of the Attorney General, these measures should include safeguards to ensure minors are prevented from using location-sharing features.
The call for action extends beyond protecting minors. The coalition is also urging Instagram to provide a clear alert to all adult users. This alert should explain the risks associated with the feature and include full disclosure about how collected location data is used. Transparency is emphasized to support informed user decisions. Additionally, adults who choose to use the feature should have an easy option to disable location sharing at any time.
Instagram and its parent company Meta have been urged to prioritize user safety, particularly for children and survivors of domestic abuse, over the appeal of new features. If implemented, such protections would aim to balance connectivity with confidentiality, allowing adults who opt to share their locations to do so on their own terms. The coalition emphasizes that user privacy should not be compromised in pursuit of social reach. According to a statement from Drummond’s office, these measures are intended to support informed user choices and promote responsible use of the feature.
