How To Turn Off Instagram’s Most Dangerous New Feature
Instagram has just unlocked a new feature… Or rather, copied an old one from Snapchat that Instagram users are describing as intrusive, dangerous, and a tool for stalkers or rabid fans.
Within the last 48 hours, people started receiving a new feature push from Instagram, owned by Meta, called Map. On the feature, you can now find out where your friends are using a geographical map. This feature is similar to something that Snapchat has had for years, and in many opinions, it is seen as another attempt by Instagram to pilfer more data and copy something from another app rather than invent something new.
Now, this may seem innocent to the untrained eye, but it could be catastrophic for many reasons. If someone that you are being stalked by gets a hold of this tech and your location services are on, they could have a direct treasure map to find you in public. Creators on the app especially can be put in danger if they are a popular user, and have fans they have never even met that decide they’re going to create a formal meet and greet. People can also be doxxed with this type of information, or studied for patterns of where they go in their local communities.
Here is a gallery on how to turn off these Instagram settings:
After this gallery was made, we were also informed that if the Map feature hasn’t shown up for you yet, be sure to check and make sure that your app is up to date. If it is, the feature may have not been pushed to you yet. But if it isn’t, update it immediately so you can shut these features off. Some users are reporting that the Map feature wasn’t showing up for them but their friends could see them on the Map still. Because you can’t opt to turn the setting off until you have the Map feature, you may become visible on the Map until you opt out.
While most people find that when they click into this function that they have to decide whether to opt in or not, some users reported that they were automatically opted in and visible on the map, and had to shut it off.
If you want to give yourself added security, you can shut off your location settings completely via your settings on your phone. The gallery above shows how to make that happen on an iPhone, but Android users will have to figure it out on their end.