Instagram denies rumors about sharing users’ location with followers

Several viral posts are appearing on social media with accusations that Instagram is sharing its precise location with its followers.

Instagram has denied these allegations, as well as revealing that there are protections within cellphone operating systems to keep your data even more private.

A viral post, which is predominantly being shared on Instagram, received hundreds of likes and comments. The post claims that “if you have an iPhone”, Instagram for iOS is sharing your exact location with followers when you tag the location in a post or story.

For example, if you tag a generic location in an Instagram story or post, such as “Liberdade, São Paulo”, the viral post claims that Instagram shows your exact location and not just a general location. The original source for this accusation suggests that this is because of a change in “a recent iOS update”, rather than something done by Instagram itself.

The post further says that “there are stalkers and criminals using this feature to find people and break into homes and cars”.

Fortunately, this is just another fake news. Apple has made no changes to location sharing and Instagram has denied the claims.

In response to the original post, Instagram commented the following:

We do not share your location with others. 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 want to change your location settings, check your device’s general settings.

Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, also commented on the matter on Twitter and said the following:

Location Services is a device setting on your phone, not a new Instagram feature, serving to power things like location tags. We do not share your location with others.

This is just one more proof that we should be careful with the information published on social networks.