When you assign a map to another variable or pass it to a function, both variables point to the same data:
a := map[string]int{"x": 1}
b := a
b["x"] = 99
fmt.Println(a["x"]) // 99 (changed!)
There's no implicit copying like with arrays. Changes through one variable affect all variables referencing that map. Be aware of this when passing maps to functions.