Snapchat gets slammed.
Snapchat is facing the displeasure of many people, both users and non-users, after getting tangled up in a legal drama, where CEO Evan Spiegel apparently said the app is “only for rich people”.
The social app is getting slammed with an onslaught of online backlash after a lawsuit claimed that Spiegel said the app is “only for rich people” and that he doesn’t “want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain.”
According to NY Post, Snap Inc. officials are denying the allegations, calling it “ridiculous” and coming from a “disgruntled former employee.”
The Lawsuit
Inc. reports that the quote came from a court complaint by Anthony Pompliano, who worked as the company’s growth lead in 2015. The ex-employee recounted a conversation he alleged to have had with the CEO in a meeting in September 2015, discussing Snapchat’s plans to grow internationally. The same suit also claimed that Snap had misled investors regarding its performance.
According to Variety, at a meeting to discuss Snapchat’s user growth in 2015, Pompliano said he expressed concern that the app was not taking off overseas.
He claims that he presented methods to address the issue, feeling that the app had growth potential and that he could expand its user base to India and Spain, but Evan Spiegel abruptly cut him off saying:
“This app is only for rich people. I don’t want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain.”
“Spiegel would not entertain any further discussion on the matter,” the suit added.
In another branch of the case, the suit also alleged that Spiegel blew off concerns raised by Pompliano that Snapchat was inflating its user stats and growth metrics in marketing materials it distributed to advertisers.
It said that the app had been telling advertisers it was logging more than 100 million daily active users, even an “exaggerated account” of the numbers from third-party monitor Flurry peaked at just 97 million, according to the suit.
Pompliano said he contacted Jill Hazelbaker, Snapchat’s vice president of communications, about the discrepancy. She said that “she was aware of the issue and had repeatedly raised it internally, but Snapchat ignored her.” She left Snapchat a month later to take a job at Uber.
The suit added that Snapchat had claimed its daily active users were growing in the double digits on a monthly basis, but the real numbers were low single digits at best during the first nine months of 2015. He raised the same allegations for new user retention, saying that Snapchat had claimed it was 40 percent, when it was only in fact 20 percent.
Pompliano was fired just three weeks after he was hired.
The Backlash
Snapchat is undoubtedly fighting to put out the fire ignited by the alleged quotes from the CEO.
The app seems to be facing the most anger from India. Internet protesters in India have flooded the Snapchat app on the Apple store and Google Play store with one-star reviews.
“I cannot support an app that has a CEO who favours one country over another because of their economic progress,” one iPhone user posted.
The overall rating for its iPhone app have since been dragged down to just one-and-a-half stars.
Page after page of the app’s reviews on the Google Play store just shows unhappiness with Snapchat’s CEO and some vulgarities directed at him. The overall rating on the Google Play store still remains as four, however.
There was also a Twitter floodgate of users taking offense to the quote, saying that they will be uninstalling the app.
This saga not only raised the wrath of those in India, but apparently Indians living in other countries as well, for example, Singapore.
A user named “Mr Poor Indian from SG” left a one-star review on the app’s page on Apple store, saying that he would similarly be uninstalling Snapchat.
Beneath the backlash, there also seems to be some loyal fans who have attempted to raise the app’s rating by giving it five stars. However, the app’s rating still remains as one-and-a-half-stars as of April 21.
Some chose to take the CEO’s side, saying that the employee was spreading false information because he was fired:
The Response
Meanwhile, Snapchat has responded to the PR crisis.
“This is ridiculous,” a Snap representative told Business Insider and several Indian news outlets on Sunday.
“Obviously, Snapchat is for everyone! It’s available worldwide to download for free. Those words were written by a disgruntled former employee.
“We are grateful for our Snapchat community in India and around the world.”
Regarding the discrepancy in numbers and metrics, Snapchat’s lawyers called the claim a “musty, two-year-old allegation about a minor metrics deviation.”