Last week, a bipartisan group of 37 state attorneys general led by Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sent a letter to the head of Instagram regarding Instagram's recently-implemented location sharing feature. The letter states that the AGs have "serious concern" over the feature, which allows users' "precise locations to be displayed on a map." The AGs contend that the feature "raises significant public safety and data concerns," particularly for vulnerable users like children and survivors of domestic violence.
The letter urges Instagram to (1) "ensure minors are NOT allowed to enable location sharing features" (emphasis in original), (2) "send a clear alert to all adult users explaining the feature" and outlining its alleged risks, and (3) provide a "simple, easy-to-access feature" that allows users to disable location sharing at any time. The letter requests "prompt action and response" from Meta.
This is yet another example of the of state AGs' continued focus on "Big Tech," data revealing geolocation, and children's issues, including children's privacy.
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