INSTAGRAM TESTING A PRIVACY FEATURE THAT COULD SHARE YOUR LOCATION WITH FACEBOOK

Is this why the Instagram founders resigned?

Reportedly, the platform has recently been spotted working on a new privacy setting, through which it will basically be able to share your location history with Facebook.

What does this mean for you?

So you know how you add locations of all the places and cafes, and clubs you go to, along with your posts on Instagram. With this feature, according to a report by famous social media tipster Jane Manchun Wong, even when you’re not using the app, Instagram would be sharing your exact GPS location with Facebook, hence helping it target you with ads and recommend you relevant content.

Apparently, this geo-tagged data will show up to users in their Facebook Profile’s Activity Log. You know the section in your Facebook settings that has a daily map of all the places you visit.

Interestingly, this is after Facebook was sued for breaking its promise to European regulators that it would not combine WhatsApp and Facebook data, leading to a $122 million fine.

While we await a response from Instagram on this report, a company spokesperson told TechCrunch, “To confirm, we haven’t introduced updates to our location settings. As you know, we often work on ideas that may evolve over time or ultimately not be tested or released. Instagram does not currently store Location History; we’ll keep people updated with any changes to our location settings in the future.”

With Facebook's Adam Mosseri now heading Instagram, we all know how soon 'just a test' can become actual practice.