Lawmakers: New Instagram Map Feature Is Dangerous

Axios reports:

Democratic and Republican lawmakers are urging Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta to shut down Instagram’s new map feature, calling it a risk to child safety. Lawmakers in both parties have stepped up pressure on social media companies over child safety, warning that location-sharing tools can expose minors to predators.

Instagram lets users share their location on the platform and open an interactive map in direct messages to see where others have posted geotagged content. The content appears for 24 hours. Parents receive notifications if their child shares a location and they can turn off access.

Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) called for Meta to remove the map and adopt “more robust and transparent safety measures” in a letter Friday to Meta CEO Zuckerberg.

Read the full article.

Lawmakers urge Meta to shut down Instagram Map: “abysmal” at protecting children https://t.co/3JU1CPNqWf

— Axios (@axios) August 9, 2025

3. Share locations with friends and see what’s happening around you on the Instagram map 🗺️💞

And if you’re a parent with supervision set up for your teen, you have control over whether they can share their location, and who they’re sharing with.

(Available in some countries) pic.twitter.com/cMPpl9j20t

— Instagram (@instagram) August 6, 2025

Big Tech’s track record of protecting children is abysmal—Meta’s new Instagram map feature is no different. Our nation’s children deserve meaningful online protections. Meta must abandon this dangerous feature. https://t.co/BgIuUYmT2y

— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) August 9, 2025