Snapchat Under Attack After CEO Allegedly Trashing India and Spain Made Public
A former Snapchat employee claims Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel said the app was only for the wealthy, ‘not for poor countries like India and Spain’—and people are not happy.
Michael Kovac/Getty
This is not a good look for Snapchat.
During a user growth meeting in 2015, former employee Anthony Pompliano reportedly brought up concern for the app’s success overseas and proposed a way to fix the issue. According to Variety, Pompliano was allegedly brushed off by the company’s CEO, Evan Spiegel.
Pompliano claims Spiegel responded, “This app is only for rich people. I don’t want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain.”
Since Variety published the explosive claims, Snap users in India have taken to the App Store and Twitter to show their outrage.
At the rate at which Snapchat CEO is being slapped by us Indians, he will have to change the app's name to Slapchat #boycottsnapchat #MIvGL
— Virender Sehwag (@VirenderSehweg) April 16, 2017
Signing up with #Snapchat wouldn't have been possible without an email, Email created by V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai - An Indian.#BoycottSnapchat
— Republic Of India (@RepubIicofIndia) April 16, 2017
And they were quite successful. Since #boycottsnapchat began, the popular app is now down to a measly one and a half stars.
The allegations were originally in a redacted portion of a lawsuit against Snap Inc. filed by Pompliano. The records were unsealed on Monday, last week.
Get the best of The Beast delivered right to your inbox
By clicking “SUBSCRIBE” you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
The suit alleges Snap had been inflating their daily active users and registration completion rate. Pompliano claims this misled advertisers.
When he realized this was a problem, Pompliano compiled a PowerPoint presentation for Spiegel and other Snap executives. According to Pompliano, Spiegel quickly went through the presentation and said, “Yeah I read those, it doesn’t matter.”
The day after Pompliano’s presentation, he was fired. Snap is now describing Pompliano as a “disgruntled employee fired for poor performance,” but the damage has been done.
See more of our coverage in your search results.
Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.
Register below to read this article for free or subscribe
to unlock unlimited access to The Daily Beast.
Monthly
$1
First month then $5.99/month
Annual
$35
First year then $59.99/year
Premium
$79
First year then $119.99/year
*Substack access provided by the next business day, using your subscription email. Choosing the Premium plan constitutes your permission to share your subscription email with Substack and your agreement to Substack’s Privacy Policy.
Already have an account? Sign In
Looks like you already have a subscription!
You're all set!
Thanks for subscribing.