“Allowing children to share their real-time location and more readily displaying where they take pictures to strangers—many of whom may be pedophiles and traffickers—will only increase the dangers children face online,” the senators said, asking Zuckerberg to “immediately abandon” the feature.
“If you use location sharing, your location is updated whenever you open the app or return to the app if it’s been running in the background. You can turn off location sharing at any time,” it said.
Despite Meta claiming that users can opt out of the feature, the lawmakers said that some consumers have reported that their location was being automatically shared without their consent.
“Meta’s platforms have been consciously designed to prioritize profit over the protection of its most vulnerable users: our children,” the letter states.
Lawmakers said that existing parental controls were inadequate and often difficult for parents to understand or utilize.
Moreover, children who are active online often accept follow requests from individuals they do not know personally. Therefore, real-time location sharing on social media poses an immediate danger, especially to underage users, the letter added.
According to Meta, parents who have set up supervision for teens will have “control over their location sharing experience on the map.”
When a teen starts sharing a location, parents will receive a notification, and parents can decide whether their children have access to location-sharing on Instagram maps and also see the people with whom their children are sharing the location, according to the company.
Besides the map feature, the lawmakers raised concerns about other rising safety issues facing children on social media.
“Meta’s track record on protecting children online—even in recent days—is abysmal,” the senators said in the letter, adding that location sharing only worsens children’s safety.
“Your company has repeatedly shown that it will always fail to protect children’s lives—unless we pass legislation like the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). Allowing the geolocation of minors on your platform is just the latest example of this sad reality.”
In an emailed statement to The Epoch Times, a Meta spokesperson said: “Instagram Map is off by default, and your live location is never shared unless you choose to turn it on. If you do, only people you follow back—or a private, custom list you select—can see your location.”
When a user tags a location in their story, reel, or post using the app’s location sticker, that content will appear on the map for 24 hours.
Protecting Children
KOSA was introduced on May 14 and has been referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.Platforms are required to give parents new controls to help them spot harmful behaviors and must provide a dedicated channel to report such behaviors, it said.
The bill makes it obligatory for platforms to prevent and mitigate certain threats to minors, such as the promotion of sexual exploitation, suicide, substance abuse, and eating disorders.
“Congress must not cave to the wills and whims of Big Tech, and we must not be bullied into submission. Now is the time to stand up and protect future generations from harm by passing KOSA.”
