Instagram remains one of the best social media apps for teens with feeds of videos and photos. But soon there could be an opt-in feature that allows users to track more than just trends.
It’s called ‘Friend Card’. According to online news service TechCrunch, the feature would be similar to Apple’s ‘Find My’ app, which lets you share your location with friends and vice versa. But some members of Congress worry that these types of features could be harmful to teens.
In a letter to Instagram CEO, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (D – Massachusetts) and Kathy Castor (D – Florida) said geolocation is a violation of privacy. They said in part: “Additionally, publicly sharing that information puts young users at risk of further surveillance, violence, and unsolicited interactions.”
“We are in a social media crisis here in America,” he said Shelby Knoxcampaign director at ParentsTogether.
Shelby Knox works at the national organization ParentsTogether. She said SnapChat rolled out the opt-in feature for Snap Map in 2017 and it raised similar concerns at the time.
Knox said there have been reports of location-based features potentially exposing teens to potential danger.
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“Predators using these locations, geolocation to find children and take them to different locations,” Knox said. ‘Or that drug dealers use these to get drugs to children.’
In a written statement about this letter, Meta said: “We are focused on building out safety measures and measures before exploring whether we can offer this broadly.”
Earlier this year, the social media giant also announced new restrictions that will prevent adults from messaging teens who don’t follow them on Instagram.
Meta has also developed 50 tools and features for teens on the platform and to help parents set boundaries for younger users. This includes providing controls that allow parents to set limits on when and how long teens can use the platform.
In the meantime, ParentsTogether is urging Congress to pass regulations on these platforms.
“Right now, this crisis requires new solutions and immediate action from Congress and that is what the parents we work with repeat again and again,” said Knox.
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