Instagram Responds to Privacy Fears - Location Sharing Is Still Your Choicel

That didn’t take long.
Barely a day after Instagram rolled out its new Friend Map feature, the platform has been hit with a wave of alarmist criticism. Users are claiming—incorrectly—that the update will broadcast their live location without consent, putting millions at potential risk.
Here’s the reality check.
The Friend Map, much like Snapchat’s Snap Map, lets users see where their friends are at any given time, and also displays spots friends have visited, using location-tagged Stories they’ve posted. Snapchat’s version never caused a storm of this magnitude—but then again, Snapchat doesn’t have Instagram’s scale, which means the backlash here is louder.

The accusations center on safety concerns, with critics warning that location sharing could lead to stalking or even physical harm.
Instagram’s own announcement made this clear—although perhaps not clear enough:
“You can opt into sharing your last active location with friends you pick, and you can turn it off anytime. You can also open the map to see content your friends and favorite creators are posting from cool spots.”
Translation: your location is off by default. It will remain off unless you actively switch it on.
Adam Mosseri, Instagram’s chief, has since doubled down on that point:
“Your location will only be shared if you decide to share it, and if you do, it can only be shared with a limited group of people you choose… To start, location sharing is completely off.”
Users have three choices for sharing: a custom list, their Close Friends list, or followers they follow back.
Some of the confusion comes from Stories. If you tag a location in a Story, that Story will appear on the Friend Map for 24 hours—but only to your followers, and only for the tagged place. It doesn’t reveal your real-time location.
A few users insist their location-sharing was switched on automatically. The likelier explanation is that they previously enabled location access for other Instagram features, such as geotagging Stories. If you’ve posted a public Story with a location tag, the map may display it—but again, that’s not the same as live tracking.
Instagram has also added tools to let users hide specific locations from the map, even if they’ve enabled location sharing overall. And remember, you can shut off the feature entirely from both the app and your device settings.
Bottom line: Friend Map is not a secret tracker. It’s a voluntary feature, off by default, with multiple privacy layers. If you don’t want people knowing where you are—don’t turn it on. Simple as that.
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