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Is Instagram about to give your location history to Facebook?

According to TechCrunch, Instagram has been testing out a new privacy setting that enables it to share a person’s location history with Facebook. In essence, this means that an individual’s Global Positioning System coordinates will be collected by Instagram, even when they are not using the app.

This information is of use to Facebook, because it would allow the social media giant to target relevant adverts applicable to a person’s location and to recommend to them relevant content. The geo-tagged data would appear to users in their Facebook Profile’s Activity Log. This would also extend to providing detailed maps of where a person has been and for how long.

It may be coincidental, but the Facebook experiment has taken place shortly after the resignation of Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, the co-founders, from Instagram. The two stated they had resigned from Facebook to “explore our curiosity and creativity again.” Business Insider reports that since Facebook purchased Instagram, there had been tensions in terms of company aims and values between the pair and Facebook. Adam Mosseri is now heading up Instagram.

The potential to provide geo-location data from Instagram to Facebook remains a trial. A Facebook spokesperson informed 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.”

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Dr. Tim Sandle is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for science news. Tim specializes in science, technology, environmental, business, and health journalism. He is additionally a practising microbiologist; and an author. He is also interested in history, politics and current affairs.

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