In a viral Reddit post published on r/AmITheA**hole, Redditor u/Throwaway5144311 (otherwise referred to as the original poster, or OP) said he is the most “tech savvy” member of his family and detailed the heated aftermath of his refusal to install a virtual tracker on his future sister-in-law’s cell phone.

Titled, “[Am I the a**hole] for putting my brother on speaker and letting his fiancée hear about what he’s been asking me to do?” the post has received more than 13,000 upvotes and 2,300 comments in the last five hours.

“Lately, my brother…has been asking me to install a tracking app on his fiancée’s [iPhone],” OP began. “He even offered money but I refused but I refused [because] I felt it was kinda wrong.”

Continuing to explain that he only helps people with good intentions, OP said he warned his brother he would expose his request if he ever asked again. OP also said he thought his brother dropped the issue as a result of his warning.

He was wrong.

“[A couple] days ago, he calls me…while I was at my parents’ home,” OP wrote. “His fiancée happened to be there too.

“He brings up the tracking app again. I put him on speaker…he says ‘It’s about the tracking app…I need you to do it tonight when I stop by with her phone’ [and] proceeds how he could no longer lie about her phone missing,” OP continued. “My parents go silent but his fiancée looks shocked then goes off on him.

“My parents lash out at me…saying I just caused a huge problem between my brother and his fiancée,” OP added. “Later my brother was calling nonstop and when I gave no response he sent a nasty text calling me names…then saying that I might’ve just compromised his entire relationship.”

Although the ability to keep virtual tabs on an individual’s every movement was previously reserved for law enforcement, the proliferation of location-service-equipped social media platforms has transformed tracking completely.

From check-ins on Facebook to Snapchat’s vaunted Snap Map, there are myriad ways to find a social media user’s whereabouts, but only if that user enables location services and chooses to share where they are and, most of the time, what they are doing.

With Apple’s iMessage and other messaging platforms, users also have the capability to share their location with others, commonly including romantic partners and other loved ones.

In 2017, GQ published an article in support of sharing locations with partners, for safety purposes and for ease of mind.

Last year, Mashable took the opposing stance, warning of the potential for overstepping and the severe lack of privacy that sharing locations with romantic partners can create.

But while there are numerous published perspectives about the benefits, and dangers, of knowing where a partner is at all times, the common thread is that location sharing is only acceptable when both sides are in agreement.

If one party objects, or is oblivious to the fact that they are being tracked, the conversation can take a sinister shift.

“Technology has created the opportunity for abusers to terrorize their victims from anywhere, creating an environment of omnipresent control,” leading mental health publication Psychology Today reported in 2019. “Within abusive relationships, cyber monitoring…can be addictive and dangerous. It often prompts negative emotions, which lead to arguments, which can lead to violence.”

Throughout the comment section of the viral Reddit post, Redditors echoed that sentiment and remained adamant that, while OP almost certainly drove a wedge into his brother’s relationship, he was right to alert his brother’s fiancée to the intrusive request.

“Technically HE compromised his entire relationship,” Redditor u/Major_Barnacle_2212 wrote in the post’s top comment, which has received nearly 13,000 upvotes. “And you warned him.

“Normally I might say someone also sucked for interfering in the relationship, but absolutely not when it comes to such deceitful or even potentially illegal stuff,” they continued. “[Not the a**hole].”

Redditor u/Environmental-Row979, whose comment has received more than 8,000 upvotes, offered a similar response.

“Not only are you [not the a**hole]…[but] you did not do something that you knew would be the wrong thing to do, even while facing pressure from your family to do it,” they wrote. “You saw a red flag and made sure a woman in a potentially vulnerable situation saw it too.

“By letting her hear the words from his mouth…you were able to sidestep the whole ‘who are you going to believe?’ question that might have arisen,” they added.

“You didn’t compromise his relationship,” Redditor u/FunkyOrangePenguin chimed in, receiving more than 3,000 upvotes. “He did that by asking you to help him track his fiancée.

“He is upset you shared a private conversation about him invading her privacy,” they continued. “Your brother is a creep. She realized that thanks to you. [Not the a**hole].”

Newsweek reached out to u/Throwaway5144311 for comment.