Instagram refutes viral post claims that users’ location is shared with followers

Photo and video sharing platform Instagram’s CEO Adam Mosseri and its social media team have refuted claims that their app is tracking location data and sharing it with followers looking for your exact location.

According to GSM Arena, a viral post claimed "a recent iOS update" has made it so that "people can now find your exact location from Instagram".

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This prompted several people to go into their phone’s Instagram app settings and disable location permissions for the app.

Instagram’s Comms Twitter posted about the viral post, clarifying what Instagram’s policies on location data are. They wrote, "People can manage Location Services via their device settings, and tag locations on their posts if they want to share that information.

"In another tweet, they added, "To be clear, we don’t share your location with others. Similar to other social media companies, we use a precise location for things like location tags and maps features.

"Apart from that Mosseri explained that Instagram device location powers location tag features but the app won’t a user’s location with other people.

A viral Instagram post isn’t always the best place to find reliable information, a verification of that information is vital. The original post never mentioned whether such a location feature was Instagram’s doing, instead it refers to "a recent iOS update" with no basis, as per GSM Arena.