The new Instagram map divides users. Mosseri clarifies: sharing of the position only on choice and visible to limited lists of friends
A pair of viral kings are enough on “How to deactivate the new Instagram map immediately” to transform an app update into a collective paranoia. Menlo Park’s latest gimmick is called Friend map And, on the bulletin boards around the world, it has already become synonymous with “I punch me even when I breathe”. The mechanism reminiscent of the Snap Map Of Snapchat: Show where you are and what you are doing – but only, swears Instagram, if you decide to say it.
The storm exploded when users started wondering if it were not yet another violation of privacy masked by function “to remain connected”. So Adam Mosseri, the supreme head of Instagram and frontman of all the feed tech controversies, intervened to clarify: «The location is completely deactivated by default. You can only share it if you choose it, and only with a personalized list, the close Friends or followers that you follow in turn ».
In other words: no tracking in real time and no compulsory sharing. If you tag up a place in the stories, that yes, it will end up on the map for 24 hours, but only visible to your followers. And that’s it. Mosseri says to use it “to tell what I am doing to a fist of trusted friends” and underlines that, as in all the social apps, the point is in taking care of the list of those who can see you.
The problem is that, in an era of geolocation anxiety, even the most harmless “I am in this bar” seems to be thriller. And the border between sharing and surveillance is increasingly subtle. For now, Instagram asks for trust. Users, on the other hand, are already looking for the “off” button as if it were the way out of an escape room.
