Bipartisan Coalition Urges Instagram to Strengthen Location Privacy Protections

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined a bipartisan coalition of 37 attorneys general in urging Instagram to make immediate changes to its location-sharing feature. The attorneys general expressed serious public safety and data privacy concerns about the change, which allows users' precise locations to be displayed on a map. This could have devastating consequences for vulnerable users, including children and survivors of domestic violence, who may be exploited by predators, stalkers, and other malicious actors.

Key Takeaways:

• The bipartisan coalition of 37 attorneys general, including Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, has written a letter to Instagram Head Adam Mosseri, expressing concerns about the newly implemented location-sharing feature.
• The letter emphasizes the heightened dangers for vulnerable users, including children and survivors of domestic violence, who may be exploited by predators, stalkers, and other malicious actors.
• The coalition is urging Instagram to ensure that minors cannot enable location-sharing features, to send a clear alert to all adult users explaining the risks and providing full disclosure of how Instagram will use their location data, and to provide a simple control for adults to disable location sharing at any time.
• The attorneys general stressed that Meta and Instagram must prioritize user safety over product novelty and ensure that any changes to the location-sharing feature do not compromise user security.
• The coalition is joined by attorneys general from 37 states, including Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawai'i, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
• The letter also emphasizes that Meta has a responsibility to protect its users, especially children, from online predators.