Attorney General Jeff Jackson Warns Instagram Against Compromising User Privacy and Security

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, August 14, 2025

Email: nahmed@ncdoj.gov
Phone: 919-538-2809

RALEIGH – Attorney General Jeff Jackson joined a coalition of 37 bipartisan attorneys general warning Instagram to make immediate changes to its new location-sharing feature, which could put children and victims of violence in danger.

“Our children’s safety comes first,” said Attorney General Jeff Jackson. “Instagram needs to do some clean up on its location-sharing feature so we can keep children and victims safe – and it needs to do so now.”

The feature, which Instagram rolled out over the past weekend, displays users’ precise, real-time locations on Instagram’s map interface. When a user posts a story, reel, or post, the map tags their location with that post for the next 24 hours. While Instagram collects user data on location and other information under its terms of use, the attorneys general note that this latest feature is an overreach of how Instagram collects and uses data. It’s particularly dangerous for children, whose location may be seen by sexual predators and other criminals who might use that information to target kids offline. Similarly, the information puts victims of violence, including domestic abuse survivors, at risk of being targeted by their abusers or stalkers.

The attorneys general are urging Instagram to:

• Entirely disable the feature for minors so they can’t enable location sharing.
• Send an alert to all users explaining the feature, how it works, and how the company will use the data.
• Give people who opt in to location sharing an easy way to opt out at a later time.

If you’re an Instagram user, you can turn the new location sharing feature by doing the following:

• On the Instagram app, go to the Messages tab in the top right corner.
• Click on “Map”.
• Click on the “Settings” gear in the top right corner and choose to share your location with no one. You may also edit who you share your location with.

It is important to note that even if you turn off the new location-sharing feature, Instagram may still collect your location information on its own for advertising and other purposes. For more information about Instagram’s collection of your location data, refer to its help center.

A copy of the letter is available here.

Attorney General Jackson is joined in sending this letter by the Attorneys General of New Mexico, Georgia, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, and West Virginia.

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