Meta has recently been making a lot of changes to its popular social media app Instagram. It hasn’t been a long time since we got the new Maps and friends tab in the Reels section of the platform. While the new Maps feature of Instagram looks great at first, many users have raised privacy-related concerns, and that’s why many think you should disable this feature as soon as possible.

Instagram’s new Maps feature can be a privacy nightmare

Instagram’s new Maps feature aims to provide more personalized content to users. It uses the real-time location to deliver related reels and posts. The firm says that this feature is intended to provide stories from live music concerts or to find a perfect hangout spot in the user’s location. The users can also share their live location with their friends.

You are not wrong if you are thinking that it’s a replica of the Snap Maps feature. It is largely similar to it. Instagram has been trying to appeal to the ‘young’ users of Snapchat. However, the latest addition seems to be a step in the very wrong direction. It increases the risk to the user’s safety and can even be helpful to stalkers.

Disabling the feature may not be a bad idea

Users are furious about the new Instagram Maps feature. A user on Reddit went as far as to say ‘I wonder how many murders this will promote.’ Many users may argue that if Snapchat has a similar feature, why is only Instagram’s version at risk? Well, the answer is pretty simple. Snapchat is more of a ‘personal’ social media app.

In Snapchat, a user has to first manually add their friends or accept the request before sharing the location data. While on Instagram, your account is ‘Social’ first and private later. Yes, you can make your account private, but it is not private by default, unlike Snapchat. If your Insta account is public, then nearly anyone can view your location data, which is nearly impossible in its counterpart.

While the feature is turned off by default, you can still check for it manually and disable it just to be secure. To disable Instagram’s Maps feature, go to Settings >> Messages tab >> tap on the “Map” icon >> Settings >> mark the location sharing option to “No one.”