It’s been discovered recently that Instagram is prototyping a new feature that forwards users’ location history to Facebook. It’s believed that the new feature will be used by Facebook to bolster the social network’s targeted advertising.
The new feature was first discovered by TechCrunch. The Instagram app will be able to share users’ location history with Facebook using exact GPS coordinates. When the Instagram app is able to collect location history, it will be able to share it with Facebook even when the user isn’t using the Instagram app. Facebook will then be able to use that information to improve its ad-targeting and it will also be able to recommend more relevant content to the user. This can be used for ads and content found on Facebook, Messenger and Instagram.
The feature can be accessed by going to the Instagram settings and tapping on “Privacy and Security.” There should be a “Location Settings” option in this page and it will have settings for “Location Services” and “Location History.” The Location History option is what collects the user’s precise GPS location history and sends it to Facebook. This option is said to be turned off by default.
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