Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) are advocating for the discontinuation of new map features on Instagram due to concerns about child safety.
In a recent letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the lawmakers expressed fears that the rollout of these new tools could pose risks to children.
“For years, we’ve been raising alarms about real-time location sharing on social media, especially concerning minor users. We must prioritize the safety of our children, rather than exposing them to potentially dangerous individuals online, including pedophiles and human traffickers,” the letter states.
Meta responded by explaining that Instagram users can opt into the Map Tool and control which followers can view their locations. Users have the option to disable the feature at any time.
Whenever the app is opened or reopened from the background, it updates the user’s location.
According to Meta, these features will remain disabled until users choose to activate them.
Meta also indicated that when a child begins sharing their location, parents with monitoring capabilities will get notifications.
“A parent supervising a teenage user can manage the location-sharing experience of the map,” the press release explained. “They will receive alerts when their teenagers start sharing their location and can discuss safe sharing practices with them. Parents can also see who their teens are sharing their locations with.”
Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, mentioned on Thursday that the company is aiming to implement design improvements as soon as possible.
However, despite assurances that user locations would only be shared if the tool is enabled, there have been reports of users’ locations being shared automatically, without consent.
“This feature is particularly troubling concerning children and teens active on Instagram,” the senator noted. “Meta’s platform seems more focused on benefits than the safety of our most vulnerable users.”
“Meta claims parents can control location settings, but it’s obvious that current parental controls are inadequate,” the letter continued. “This complicates parents’ ability to fully understand or use these controls, which can lead to abuse and exploitation.”
Blackburn and Blumenthal criticized Meta’s history regarding children’s online safety, describing it as “poor.”
“Kids might accept follow requests from strangers, and allowing them to share real-time locations can heighten risks from potential predators,” the lawmaker stated.
The letter chastised Meta for what it called repeated failures to protect children, urging that without congressional action, child safety cannot be ensured.
Blackburn and Blumenthal have raised similar concerns about child safety on Meta’s platforms, including Instagram and Facebook, in the past.
Last year, they sponsored the Online Safety Act for Children, which passed the Senate but stalled in the House. This legislation was reintroduced in May.
Additionally, Blackburn wrote to Meta earlier this year, highlighting worries that the company “cannot shield minors from inappropriate discussions with AI-driven chatbots.”
“Allowing minors to share their locations on the platform is just another unfortunate example,” she remarked on Friday. “We recommend quickly scrapping Instagram’s maps feature and instead implementing serious protections for children online.”
Fox Business reached out to Meta for a response.
