UAE residents warned about new Snapchat update

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has warned people about the new update of Snapchat for photo messaging 'Snap Map'.
The TRA cited the risks of automatically providing a map of the users' location without their knowledge, which may lead to unaccounted consequences and breaches that harm the privacy of individuals as well as other negative consequences of automatic detection of users' locations in time of using the application.
"The new update allows the release of the geographical location of the Snapchat users and exposes it to all the App users worldwide, not just to their friends. Under the update, any Snap connection through the App can be viewed as a point on an interactive map once the screen is pulled, and when clicking on any of the points, the image or scene is opened without informing the owners that their location has become exposed," said the TRA statement.
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"To avoid this, you need to make a simple change to your app settings, which people may overlook. A user who wants to be protected should modify the App setting by clicking the 'Next' button on the screen, then clicking on the ghost mode 'me only', and then clicking 'Next'. This way, any circulated Snap will not show the user's location on the interactive map."