Snapchat has been forced to settle with US regulators after it was charged with deceiving its users regarding the privacy of the ephemeral messaging service.
Snapchat provides users with a service that allows them to take photographs before sending the images to their friends, providing an image-based messaging service. However, Snapchat’s hook is that it self-deletes these messages after a short period of time, theoretically meaning that the images will not be stored on the receiver’s phone.
However, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) pointed out that Snapchat has not disclosed to its users that screenshots can be taken of the images sent through the app, and that there are a number of third-party apps that can be downloaded which save the images directly to the recipient’s device.
The FTC also criticised Snapchat’s ‘Find Friends’ feature, which was breached in a huge security attack and allowed hackers to gain access to 4.6 million phone numbers and Snapchat usernames.
The FTC said in a statement: “If a company markets privacy and security as key selling points in pitching its service to consumers, it is critical that it keep those promises. Any company that makes misrepresentations to consumers about its privacy and security practices risks FTC action.”
Snapchat has agreed to settle with the FTC over the charges, and part of their agreement is that the FTC will monitor Snapchat for the next 20 years. No money has changed hands as part of this settlement.
Snapchat responded to the criticisms in a blog post, saying: “When we started building Snapchat, we were focused on developing a unique, fast and fun way to communicate with photos. We learned a lot during those early days. One of the ways we learned was by making mistakes, acknowledging them, and fixing them.
“While we were focused on building, some things didn’t get the attention they could have. One of those was being more precise with how we communicated with the Snapchat community.”
