Instagram was stormed by users who turned off their precise location.
There were numerous posts on Instagram that went viral for encouraging users to turn off the precise location in the app's mobile phone permissions.
The posts claim that Instagram will share a user's specific location with other people who also use Instagram.
According to 9To5Mac, the popular post, which is being disseminated primarily on Instagram, has garnered tens of thousands of comments and thousands of likes.
Based on the post, users who have an iPhone will be able to share their precise location with other Instagram users via the Instagram app for iOS whenever they tag a location in their post or story.
For instance, if users choose to put a general tag in their post or story, like "Austin, Texas," the viral post says that Instagram will display the user's precise location to the user's followers, not just the general area tagged by the user.
It appears that the original source of this report says that the reason for this is not something that Instagram is doing but rather a change that was introduced in a recent upgrade to iOS.
Additionally, it even goes so far as to imply that there are supposedly stalkers and criminals utilizing this function to find people and break into houses and cars.
Instagram Address False Information in Viral Post
Instagram detected the commotion and went to social media to clarify and educate the users about the issue.
Instagram denied the claims and responded in the comment section of the viral post, stating:
"We don't share your location with other people. We use location for things like determining a location tag if you add one to a post or story, but we don't make your exact location public. If you do want to change your location settings, check out your general device settings."
In the midst of the post going viral, Instagram also posted a short thread on Twitter saying that they do not share the location of their users with others.
The app, much like other social media platforms, makes use of precise location information for things such as location tags and functionality related to maps.
The app added that users could take control of their Location Services through the settings on their devices and tag locations on their posts if they want to share information about where they are.
People can manage Location Services via their device settings, and tag locations on their posts if they want to share that information.
— Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) August 25, 2022
The head of the company, Adam Mosseri, also retweeted the thread explaining, "Location Services is a device setting on your phone, not a new feature from Instagram, and it powers things like location tags."
Wanted to share this 🧵 for clarity. Location Services is a device setting on your phone, not a new feature from Instagram, and it powers things like location tags. We don’t share your location with other people. https://t.co/6R6XMOCppj
— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) August 25, 2022
What Is Instagram's Precise Location?
Instagram's controversial precise location is a phone setting and not a feature of the app. This setting provides users with the ability to offer some apps a more precise location. The way in which it is utilized varies from app to app.
According to BBC, this device setting first came about in 2020 in iOS devices through the operating system update, iOS 14. In 2021, Google released the same setting for Android 12.
Although it is now considered a contentious feature by some, when it was originally introduced, it was hailed as a solution to enhance user privacy on mobile devices because it provides an alternative to location services being applied universally.
When enabled in the location settings of an app, this feature grants the developers access to identify an exact location using GPS for a variety of objectives.
The most common of which are travel-related or concerned with the collection of background and private user data.
