Facebook Wants To Take Your Location History From Instagram

On its never-ending quest to gather as much information about you as possible, Facebook reportedly wants to gather location data from Instagram. Several top executives recently resigned from the popular photo-sharing app, which is owned by Facebook, because they reportedly felt a lack of independence working for the social media giant. This recent report does nothing to dispel those concerns.

The tracking feature, which appears to be opt-in only for now, was first spotted by app researcher Jane Manchun Wong. It would allow Instagram to collect your GPS coordinates everywhere you go, even when you’re not using the app. It would then turn around and provide that information to Facebook. When pressed for details, Facebook offered a vague response that all but confirmed this test could soon become a reality.

“We haven’t introduced updates to our location settings,” a Facebook spokesperson told TechCrunch. “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.”

Of course, your location data is extremely valuable to Facebook. It allows the site to target hyper-specific ads at you, and thus make more money from its advertisers. But setting that aside, it’s just creepy that Facebook wants to track your movements in the real world.



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