What’s going on with the new Instagram map and how to keep it turned it off

What Instagram touted as a fun new feature to connect further with your friends is devolving into a dialogue about privacy concerns and hurting the app’s already fragile street cred. Last week, Instagram launched its map — a long-in-the-works location-based page where friends can see each other’s exact whereabouts. On its face, the service isn’t very different from Snapchat’s map, which has been around for nearly a decade. But the conversation about the Instagram map went downhill fast, with experts weighing in about privacy and safety risks. Here’s what we know about the Instagram Map, including how to turn the feature off, and what security experts say about it. What is the Instagram Map? As part of a suite of new Instagram updates, the social media platform launched a new interactive map last Wednesday. It allows users to see where they and their friends are based on location data. In a news release, Meta called it “a new, lightweight way to connect with each other.” It’s available nationwide in the United States with global availability coming soon. The map can populate for all users, regardless of location sharing, based on locations collected from Instagram stories, posts, and Reels with location
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