US senators Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal have written a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, urging the company to shut down its new map feature on Instagram due to concerns over children’s safety. The lawmakers claim that the feature, which allows users to share their live location with followers, poses risks to minors.
The new feature is designed to provide an additional layer of security for parents who have set up supervision for their child’s account. However, senators argue that existing parental controls are not sufficient and that Meta has made it difficult for parents to fully understand or utilize these controls.
Blackburn and Blumenthal accuse Meta of “abysmal” track record when it comes to protecting children online, citing previous concerns over the safety of underage users on Meta’s platforms. They have previously sponsored a bill aimed at improving online safety for minors, which was reintroduced in May.
The lawmakers claim that allowing children to share their location with strangers could put them in harm’s way and expose them to pedophiles and traffickers. They urge Meta to abandon the map feature and instead implement meaningful protections for children online.
Meta has stated that users’ locations will stay turned off unless they enable the new tool, but senators report instances of automatic sharing without consent. The company has also made efforts to improve design, but the lawmakers believe more needs to be done to protect vulnerable users.
Source: https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/bipartisan-senators-call-instagram-shut-down-its-new-map-feature-citing-childrens-safety-concerns