Snapchat

Snapchat

Snapchat Logo on iOS 8 and Android
Original author(s) Snapchat, Inc.
Developer(s) Bobby Murphy, Evan Spiegel
Initial release September 2011 (2011-09)[1]
Stable release 9.15.0.0
Development status Active
Operating system iOS, Android
Size 25.8 MB
Available in English, Arabic, Chinese (simplified), Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian (Bokmål), Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Russian
Type Photo sharing, social networking service
License Proprietary software
Alexa rank Increase 6,712[2]
Website snapchat.com

Snapchat is a video messaging application created by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown[3] when they were students at Stanford University.[4][5][6] Using the application, users can take photos, record videos, add text and drawings, and send them to a controlled list of recipients. These sent photographs and videos are known as "Snaps". Users set a time limit for how long recipients can view their Snaps (as of September 2015, the range is from 1 to 10 seconds),[7] after which Snapchat claims they will be deleted from the company's servers.

Snapchat eventually came to develop a larger focus on its "Stories" functionality, which allows users to compile snaps into a "story" that can be viewed by other users in chronological order, with each snap available for 24 hours after its posting. Alongside users' stories, Snapchat also features curated "live stories", with content from various users focusing on a specific theme or event, as well as channels of short-form content from major publishers.

According to Snapchat, in May 2015 the app's users were sending 2 billion photos and videos per day, while Snapchat Stories content was being viewed 500 million times per day. In November 2015 the number reached 6 billion of videos per day.[8] The company has a valuation of $10–$20 billion, depending on the source.[9] In 2016, Snapchat hits 7 billion daily videos views.[10]

Features

Core functionality

A "snap" consists of either a static photo, or recorded video. After the photo or video is taken, it can be manipulated with filters and effects, text captions, and drawings.[11] The "Lens" feature, introduced in September 2015, allows users to incorporate real-time face detection-based effects into their snaps, activated by long-pressing on a face within the viewfinder. Beginning November 2015, lenses must be purchased using microtransactions, but seven free lenses are cycled daily.[12][13]

Snaps can either be directed privately to specific friends, or to a Story. For snaps sent privately, a time limit is set, after which, originally, the image was said to be deleted. Users were previously required to hold down on the screen in order to view a snap; this behavior was removed in July 2015.[14] The requirement to hold on the screen was intended to frustrate the ability to take screenshots of snaps; the Snapchat app does not prevent screenshots from being taken, but can notify the sender if it detects that it has been saved. However, these notifications can be bypassed through either unauthorized modifications to the app or by obtaining the image through external means.[15][16][17][17] One snap per-day can be replayed for free; additional replays can be purchased using microtransactions.[18]

Friends can be added via usernames, phone contacts, using customizable "Snapcodes", or through the "Add Nearby" function, which scans for users near their location who are also in the Add Nearby menu.[14][19] Spiegel explained that Snapchat is intended to counteract the trend of users being compelled to manage an idealized online identity of themselves, which he says has "taken all of the fun out of communicating".[15]

Stories and Discover

In October 2013, Snapchat introduced the "My Story" feature, which allows users to compile snaps into chronological storylines, accessible to all of their friends, or to the public. Stories are viewed in chronological order, and each segment is accessible for 24 hours.[20] An "Official stories" designation was added in November 2015 to denote the public stories of notable figures and celebrities, similarly to Twitter's "Verified account" program.[21]

In June 2014, the story feature was expanded to incorporate "Our Stories", also known as "Live stories"—which allows users on-location at specific events (such as music festivals or sporting events) to contribute snaps to a curated montage advertised to all users.[22][23][24][25]

In January 2015, Snapchat introduced "Discover", an area containing channels of ad-supported short-form content from major publishers, including BuzzFeed, CNN, ESPN, Mashable, People, and Vice among others.[26]

Messaging

On May 1, 2014, direct messaging and video chat features were added to Snapchat, in which users can send text messages to their friends and save messages by clicking on them.[27] Rather than a traditional online notification, a blue pulsing "Here" button is displayed within the chat window if the recipient is currently viewing their chat window. If held down, a video chat function is immediately launched.[28] By default, messages disappear after they are read, and a notification is only sent to the recipient when they start to type.[28] Users can also use messages to reply to snaps that are part of a story.[12] The video chat feature uses technology from AddLive—a real-time communications provider that SnapChat acquired prior to the feature's launch.[29]

In contrast to other messaging apps, Spiegel described Snapchat's messaging functions as being "conversational," rather than "transactional," as they sought to replicate the conversations he engaged in with friends. Spiegel stated that he did not experience conversational interactions while using the products of competitors like iMessage.[28] In regards to the "Here" indicator, he explained that "the accepted notion of an online indicator that every chat service has is really a negative indicator. It means 'my friend is available and doesn't want to talk to you,' versus this idea in Snapchat where 'my friend is here and is giving you their full attention.'" Spiegel further claimed that the Here function prevents the awkwardness that can arise with apps that use typing indicators, as conversations lose their fluidity, as each user tries to avoid typing at the same time as the recipient.[27][28]

History

Further information: Timeline of Snapchat

Snapchat was started by Brown and Spiegel as a project for one of Spiegel's classes at Stanford University, where Spiegel was a product design major. Beginning under the name "Picaboo", the two later brought Murphy into the project to code the application. When Spiegel floated the idea in April 2011 in front of the product design class for his final project, classmates balked at the idea of impermanent photos.[15] Snapchat first launched in July 2011 under the name Picaboo in Spiegel's father's living room, though the application was later renamed and relaunched under the name Snapchat.[15][30][31]

In their first blog post, the company describes their mission: "Snapchat isn't about capturing the traditional Kodak moment. It's about communicating with the full range of human emotion—not just what appears to be pretty or perfect."[32] They present Snapchat as the solution to stresses caused by the longevity of personal information on social media, evidenced by "emergency detagging of Facebook photos before job interviews and photoshopping blemishes out of candid shots before they hit the internet".[32]

Early on, the Snapchat team focused on usability and technical aspects rather than branding efforts.[15] The app's mascot is called "Ghostface Chillah", a name Brown derived from Ghostface Killah of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan.[15]

In May 2012, 25 images were being sent per second[16] and, as of November 28, 2012, users had shared over one billion photos on the Snapchat iOS app, with 20 million photos being shared per day.[16][33] In November 2012, Spiegel cited problems with scaling, with an userbase, as the reason why Snapchat was experiencing difficulties with delivering images in real time.[16]

Snapchat was released on Android on November 29, 2012.[16]

Snapchat raised US$485,000 in its seed round and an undisclosed amount of bridge funding from Lightspeed Ventures.[16] In June 2013, Snapchat raised $60 million in a funding round led by venture-capital firm Institutional Venture Partners.[34] The firm also appointed a new high-profile board member Michael Lynton of Sony's American division.[35]

Also in June 2013, Snapchat introduced Snapkidz for users under 13 years of age. Snapkidz is part of the original Snapchat application and is activated when the user provides a date of birth to verify his/her age. Snapkidz allows children to take snaps and draw on them, but they cannot send snaps to other users and can only save snaps locally on the device being used.[36]

In June 2013, Snapchat version 5.0, dubbed "Banquo", was released for iOS. The updated version introduced several speed and design enhancements, including swipe navigation, double-tap to reply, an improved friend finder, and in-app profiles.[37] The same changes were then carried over to Android devices in July 2013.

The company revealed in a blog post on October 14, 2013 that it complies with the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) by handing over images not yet seen by its users to American law enforcement agencies. Snapchat director of operations Micah Schaffer explained: "Since May 2013, about a dozen of the search warrants we've received have resulted in us producing unopened snaps to law enforcement."[38]

Snapchat revealed in February 2013 that its users were sending 60 million messages daily, and this figure significantly increased to 400 million photo messages per day in November 2013. Then, as part of the company's May 2014 announcement of updated features (related to video chatting and text messaging), Snapchat stated that its users were sending 700 million photos and videos per day, while Snapchat Stories content was being viewed 500 million times per day. All of the data released since Snapchat's inception has been based on information collected solely by the company, while, as of May 2014, the company has refused to disclose the total number of active monthly Snapchat users.[39]

In June 2014, the company claimed that its Stories feature had surpassed Snaps, with over one billion viewed per day, which represented a doubling of the daily views tallied in April 2014.[40] On September 9, 2014, Snapchat's owners announced that they had settled the lawsuit filed by fellow student and former friend Reggie Brown for an undisclosed amount. As part of the settlement, they credited Brown with the idea of Snapchat.[41]

Kleiner Perkins, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, negotiated a financial agreement with Snapchat in August 2014, at a time when the company was valued at US$10 billion, with 100 million monthly active users. Prior to the amount raised with Kleiner Perkins, the company had already raised US$163 million in funding.[42]

Snapchat's first paid advertisement, in the form of a 20-second movie trailer for the horror film Ouija, was shown to users on October 19, 2014. In addition to acknowledging Snapchat's need for a revenue stream, the company's blog explained: "We want to see if we can deliver an experience that's fun and informative, the way ads used to be, before they got creepy and targeted."[43]

Emily White was a chief operating officer at Snapchat Inc. from December 2013 till March 2015.[44]

Lawsuit over ownership

As of February 2013, cofounder Frank Reginald "Reggie" Brown IV, a former classmate of Spiegel and Murphy who conceived of the Snapchat concept, designed the logo, and came up with the application's original name "Picaboo", filed a suit claiming to own part of the company.[45] A falling out occurred in August 2011 and Brown was consequently left out as an owner of the company.[46][47] A new filing submitted by Brown on October 23, 2013 includes Snapchat investors in the lawsuit. At the time of the new filing, the company was valued at around US$3 billion to $4 billion.[48]

Snapchat tried to settle with Brown on two prior occasions: on May 18, 2013 and again several weeks later.[49]

Snapchat announced they reached an undisclosed settlement with Brown on September 9, 2014. As part of the settlement, Brown was credited with the creation of Snapchat. The press release published by Snapchat's communication department quoted Spiegel:

We are pleased that we have been able to resolve this matter in a manner that is satisfactory to Mr. Brown and the Company. We acknowledge Reggie's contribution to the creation of Snapchat and appreciate his work in getting the application off the ground.[41]

Image retrieval and storage claims

On May 9, 2013, Forbes reported that Snapchat photos do not actually disappear, and that the images can still be retrieved with minimal technical knowledge after the time limit expires.[50] The Electronic Privacy Information Center consequently filed a complaint against Snapchat with the Federal Trade Commission, stating that Snapchat deceived its customers by leading them to believe that pictures are destroyed within seconds of viewing.[51]

On May 7, 2014, Snapchat settled with the Federal Trade Commission over allegations it deceived users over the amount of personal data it collected and was responsible for a security breach that impacted 4.6 million customers. It will face privacy monitoring for 20 years.[52]

Snapchat's own documentation states that the company's servers retain a log of the last 200 "snaps" that were sent and received, but no actual content is stored. The documentation further explains that if the file is not viewed by the recipient, it remains on Snapchat's servers for 30 days.[53] In a public blog post, the service warned that "If you've ever tried to recover lost data after accidentally deleting a drive or maybe watched an episode of CSI, you might know that with the right forensic tools, it's sometimes possible to retrieve data after it has been deleted."[54]

Demographics and usership

The application's main demographic consists of users between 13 and 23 years of age,[55] with a growing 40-years-and-over user base identified in October 2012. Snapchat is often used to send "selfies", and 30 percent of snaps are sent to groups.[17] Spiegel revealed at the Dive Into Mobile conference in April 2013 that 80 percent of Snapchat's users are located in the U.S.[56]

Since Snapchat has such a youthful user base, Snapchat is a comparatively advantageous platform for companies and advertisers to work with. The age group 18 to 34 is considered the group with the most spending-power, and the most active on social media, thus the ideal audience media companies and advertisers target. 38 percent of the users earn more than $50,000 income.[57] Therefore, tapping into the Snapchat user community would also mean having access to all these young, and ready-to-spend consumers. Snapchat's marketing potential was published in late September 2013 by the Vocus company, with Taco Bell, Karmaloop and 16 Handles, a New York, US frozen yogurt chain, identified as early adopters of the application. Vocus explained, "Brands can set up profiles on the network and add users as friends, who opt into the brand's messages by accepting."[58]

In 2014, researchers from University of Washington and Seattle Pacific University designed a user survey to help understand how and why people use the Snapchat application. The researchers originally hypothesized that due to the ephemeral nature of Snapchat messages, its use would be predominantly for privacy-sensitive content including the much talked about potential use for sexual content and sexting.[59] However, it appears that Snapchat is used for a variety of creative purposes that are not necessarily privacy-related at all.[59] In the study, only 1.6% of respondents reported using Snapchat primarily for sexting, although 14.2% admitted to having sent sexual content via Snapchat at some point.[59] These findings suggest that users do not seem to utilize Snapchat for sensitive content. Rather, the primary use for Snapchat was found to be for comedic content such as "stupid faces" with 59.8% of respondents reporting this use most commonly.[59] The researchers also determined how Snapchat users do not use the application and what types of content they are not willing to send. They found that the majority of users are not willing to send content classified as sexting (74.8% of respondents), photos of documents (85.0% of respondents), messages containing legally questionable content (86.6% of respondents), or content considered mean or insulting (93.7% of respondents).[59]

The study results also suggested that Snapchat's success is not due to its security properties, but because the users found the application to be fun. The researchers found that users seem to be well aware (79.4% of respondents) that recovering snaps is possible and a majority of users (52.8% of respondents) report that this does not affect their behavior and use of Snapchat.[59] Most users (52.8% of respondents) were found to use an arbitrary timeout length on snaps regardless of the content type or recipient. The remaining respondents were found to adjust their snaps timeout depending on the content or the recipient.[59] Reasons for adjusting the time length of snaps included the level of trust and relationship with the recipient, the time needed to comprehend the snap, and avoiding screenshots.[59]

Business

By October 22, 2012, Snapchat had not made any revenue[15] and Spiegel said at the time that the company was not open to being acquired.

By February 2013, Snapchat confirmed a US$13.5 million Series A funding round led by Benchmark Capital, which valued the company at between US$60 million and US$70 million. On June 24, 2013, the company's blog welcomed IVP as the lead investor from the Series B financing round, in which General Catalyst, Benchmark Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and SV Angel also participated.[60][61]

By mid-July 2013, a media report valued the company at US$860 million.[62] On November 14, 2013, The Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook offered to acquire Snapchat for US$3 billion, but Spiegel declined the cash offer.[63] According to Om Malik, Google then offered US$4 billion on November 15, 2013 to acquire the company, but Spiegel again declined.[64] On December 11, 2013, Snapchat confirmed US$50 million in Series C funding from Coatue Management.[65]

The "Discover" feature, which features short-form content from publishers, features paid advertising. The entity that sells the ad campaign causes the revenue distribution between Snapchat and its partner to vary, but it is estimated that advertisements are worth ten to fifteen cents per view. Furthermore, advertisements are estimated to be seen 500,000 to 1,000,000 times a day.[66][67][68]

Snapchat has also earned advertising revenue through the Live stories function, either selling placements within a story, or presenting a story that was pitched by a sponsor. Live stories are estimated to reach an average of 20 million viewers in a 24-hour span. In September 2015, the service entered into a partnership with the National Football League to present live stories from selected games (including a Sunday game, and marquee games such as Monday Night Football and Thursday Night Football), with both parties contributing content and handling ad sales.[25][69]

Mary Meeker, a partner at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers highlighted the growth of vertical video viewing in her 2015 Internet Trends Report - growing from 5% of video viewing in 2010 to 29% in 2015. Vertical video ads like Snapchat's are watched in their entirety nine times more than landscape video ads.[70]

Privacy and security

Privacy and security concerns have been raised in a December 2013 report published by ZDnet.com and Gibson Security.[71] Two exploits published in the report allow user names to be associated with the user's phone number, regardless of the user's privacy settings and allow the bulk downloading of user account details via the Snapchat API. According to an Ars Technica article in December 2013, Gibson Security attempted to bring the exploits to the attention of Snapchat in August 2013. However, no response was received, nor have the exploits been addressed.[72]

Government compliance

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is a digital rights group that performs annual surveys analyzing companies on several factors including government compliance.[73] On the 2014 report, Snapchat was only awarded one out of six possible stars for how it protects users data from government requests.[73] Nate Cardozo, an EFF lawyer, commented that "Snapchat joins AT&T and Comcast in failing to require a warrant for government access to the content of communications. That means the government can obtain extraordinarily sensitive information about your activities and communications without convincing a judge that there is probable cause to collect it."[74] The report claims that this fact is troubling because of the nature of the extremely sensitive user data, like private photos, that Snapchat has.[73] The report recommended "Given the large number of users and nonusers whose photos end up on Snapchat, Snapchat should publicly commit to requiring a warrant before turning over the content of its users' communications to law enforcement.[73] In response, Snapchat denied the EFF's charge that it delivers information to the government without a warrant. Snapchat spokeswoman Mary Ritti commented that the company "routinely requires a search warrant when law enforcement requests user data."[73]

December 2013 hack

Snapchat was hacked on December 31, 2013.[75][76] Gibson Security, an Australian security firm, had disclosed an API security vulnerability to the company on August 27, 2013,[77][78] and then made public the source code for the exploit on Christmas Day (Australian time; Christmas Eve in the US).[79][80] On December 27, Snapchat announced that it had implemented mitigating features.[81] Nonetheless, an anonymous group hacked them, saying that the mitigating features presented only "minor obstacles".[82][83] The hackers revealed parts of approximately 4.6 million Snapchat usernames and phone numbers on a website named "SnapchatDB.info"[76][84][85] and sent a statement to the popular technology blog TechCrunch saying that their objective had been to "raise public awareness ... and ... put public pressure on Snapchat" to fix the vulnerability.[84] Snapchat apologized a week after the hack.[86]

A Gibson Security spokesperson said, "I can understand [why they hacked Snapchat], and it's probably going to get Snapchat to do something, but I think it was too far, and they could have at least censored more of the phone numbers".[87] Gibson Security, the firm that first pointed out the security flaw, said it was not a part of the hacking attempt.[88] However, some Snapchat users posted to Twitter that they were not worried about the hack.[89] Adam Levin, co-founder of Identity Theft 911, commented that any hacking attempt impacts people. He said it is important to know that any technology can be defeated, and one should look at things skeptically.[89] According to Yahoo! Finance's Jeff Macke, "Last fall Spiegel reportedly turned down as much as $3 billion from Facebook (FB) and $4 billion from Google (GOOG)", and thus—according to Macke—, after the hack "Evan Spiegel is looking like a guy who turned down $4 billion for a company that just lost its reason to exist. That being the case we've got an early leader for biggest loser of 2014."[90]

Snapchat issued a photo statement about the hack, the reliability of the App has been highly questioned since this breach.[87][91] Evan Spiegel, the founder of Snapchat whose number was apparently present in the hacked database, tweeted that the company was currently seeking legal help.[91] In its response, Snapchat said that an updated version of its application would soon come out that could let users opt out of the "Find Friends" feature, that required their stored numbers so that other users could easily find them.[92] Other changes applied by Snapchat after the attack, to protect users and improve security, included the rate limiting suggested by security researchers.[93][94]

Snap spam

Shortly after the hack, Snapchat received many complaints from its users about snap spam that ranged from pornographic ads and dietary and weight loss ads to being the lucky winner of sweepstakes.[95][96] This flood of attacks is able to crash user's phones or give them a virus.[97] One Spanish security researcher, Jaime Sanchez, revealed that he was able to "send 1,000 messages in five seconds to a reporter's iPhone, which caused the device to freeze, requiring a reboot". Because Snapchat uses tokens to authenticate users rather than passwords, scammers are able to use these tokens, which are created whenever users update their contact list, add a friend, or send a snap, to simultaneously send snaps to hundreds of users. Sanchez suggests that this flaw resulted from Snapchat's "poor control over push notification requests".[97] According to Josh Constine, Snapchat had been aware of this spam since April 2012, as they published a blog post called "Snap Spam (Ew.)"[98] In the blog post, Snapchat acknowledged the unwanted snap complaints and informed users that the unwanted snaps originated from people sending snaps via multiple accounts. Snapchat also claimed that it is working on a longer-term solution to prevent spam from entering users' feeds. In the meantime, they advised users to change their privacy settings.[99] On January 13, 2014, Snapchat posted an apology on its blog saying, "We want to apologize for any unwanted Snaps and let you know our team is working on resolving the issue. As far as we know, this is unrelated to the Find Friends issue we experienced over the holidays" to emphasize that the snap spam was unrelated to the recent data breach. The blog also stated that the attacks were a "consequence of a quickly growing service" and offered solutions to manage and prevent spam.[100]

Deleted images

On SnapChat's Privacy page it states that the company "can't guarantee that messages will be deleted within a specific timeframe." [101] Even after SnapChat deletes message data from their servers, that same data may remain in backup for a certain period of time.[101] They also state that they receive requests from law enforcement to elongate the time they retain images for. In 2013, SnapChat's head of Trust and Safety, Miccah Scahffer, revealed that SnapChat keeps unopened snaps under circumstances like this. He claimed that they have retained images due to a warrant from law enforcement "about a dozen" times.[102] SnapChat's privacy page also acknowledges the fact, as with any digital information, that, "there may be ways to access messages while still in temporary storage on recipients' devices or, forensically, even after they are deleted."[101]

The Snappening

In October 2014, hackers obtained at least 100,000 supposedly deleted Snapchat images. The hack – being called "The Snappening" – reportedly rivals that of "the fappening" (a contemporaneous iCloud breach that targeted celebrities). In a press statement, Snapchat confirmed the images in question came from third-party sites (namely SnapSave),[103] but denied hackers had breached the site's servers.[104]

Screenshots

Snapchat's privacy statement states Snapchat is "the fastest way to share a moment with friends. You control how long your friends can view your message – simply set the timer up to ten seconds and send. They'll have that long to view your message and then it disappears forever. We'll let you know if they take a screenshot!"[105] Federal Trade Commission chairwoman Edith Ramirez commented on Snapchat's privacy stating "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."[106] The FTC claims Snapchat "made multiple misrepresentations" about the application, including the longevity of photos and videos users sent. The agency's complaint cites workarounds users employ to avoid Snapchat's screenshot detection, as well as third-party apps that save photos or videos indefinitely.[106]

Snapchat is designed so that all photos and videos will disappear after a predetermined amount of time set by the sender. However, users have found ways to keep photos after their intended time. One of the primary ways Snapchat users keep photos is through taking a screenshot. Users can take screenshots by capturing a photo of their screen while the snap is showing.[105] Snapchat's response to this potential privacy breach is to notify the sender.[107] However, the concern of the FTC is not only the possibility of screenshots, but also the workarounds users employ to avoid Snapchat's screenshot detection and applications that save photos or videos permanently. Many technology blogs online give a step-by-step walk-through of how to avoid detection and save snaps. The most popular way is through a variety of applications available on the App Store. The most well known applications are Snapkeep, SnapBox and SnapSpy.[107] Snapkeep integrates with the Snapchat application so that all unopened snaps are displayed. The snaps can then be saved to the users camera roll with the touch of one button.[107] SnapBox and SnapSpy are the same concept, but the applications function on a coin-based system, meaning that you must pay one coin for each snap you save.[107] Additionally, photographs or video recordings may be taken using a second device of a snap displayed by Snapchat.[108] Snapchat's response to concerns over the potential for screenshots and saved snaps going undetected stated, "Although we attempt to delete image data as soon as possible after the message is transmitted, we cannot guarantee that the message contents will be deleted in every case. For example, users may take a picture of the message contents with another imaging device or capture a screenshot of the message contents on the device screen. Consequently, we are not able to guarantee that your messaging data will be deleted in all instances. Messages, therefore, are sent at the risk of the user."[105]

Snapchat settled with the FTC over these privacy and security claims and under the terms of the settlement, Snapchat will face independent monitoring for 20 years. Furthermore, the FTC claims that Snapchat is prohibited from "misrepresenting the extent to which it maintains the privacy, security, or confidentiality of users' information."[106]

Privacy reliability

On May 15, 2014, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) released their fourth annual "Who Has Your Back" report on companies' customer privacy policies. Snapchat, along with AT&T and Comcast, were given the lowest ratings, but Snapchat was the only company that earned only one star.[109] The EFF criteria used to rate companies were whether companies: informed users regarding government data requests, publicly resisted mass surveillance, published law enforcement guidelines and transparency reports, fought for user's privacy rights in legal disputes, and required a warrant to disclose communications content generated through its service.[110] The only category Snapchat earned a star in was the sixth, for publicly disclosing the ways in which they respond to government data demands. Snapchat spokesperson Mary Ritti told the Washington Post that "the very nature of Snapchat means that we often don't have content to divulge" because the company deletes all content from its servers once all recipients have opened the Snap.[110] But forensic researcher Richard Hickman has proved otherwise. He discovered that Snapchat photos, particularly on Android phones, aren't deleted but merely hidden and can be retrieved with proper forensic software. They do not "disappear forever" as Snapchat had many users believing and may be passed down to unknown third parties without user consent.[111] To this day, Snapchat still claims that Snaps are not stored unless they have not been viewed, in which case they remain on Snapchat servers for 30 days.[112]

Secure messaging scorecard

As of November 4, 2014, Snapchat has a score of 2 out of 7 points on the Electronic Frontier Foundation's secure messaging scorecard. It has received points for encrypting its communications in transit and for completing a recent independent security audit. It is missing points because communications are not encrypted with a key to which the provider does not have access (i.e. the communications are not end-to-end encrypted), users cannot verify contacts' identities, past messages are not secure if the encryption keys are stolen (i.e. the service does not provide forward secrecy), the code is not open to independent review (i.e. the code is not open-source), and the security design is not properly documented.[113][114]

Sexting

See also: Sexting

Because of the nature of the service and the age of its users (many Snapchat users are below the age of eighteen[55]), it is possible that nude or sexually explicit images could be distributed among minors. Furthermore, questions over the technical facilitation of child pornography distribution have been raised. Snapchat's developers insisted that the application is not sexting-friendly and that they do not condone any kind of pornographic use. A February 2013 study by the market research firm Survata found that mobile phone users are more likely to use SMS for sexting, rather than Snapchat.[115][116] Research conducted in the UK has shown that, as of June 2013, 47% of all 18 to 30-year-old respondents have received nude pictures, while 67 percent had received images of "inappropriate poses or gestures".[19]

Sexting through Snapchat has become a widely known occurrence in the United States within the last few years . As Snapchat is known for its use as a sexting application , Tinder, a well-known swipe dating application for young people, came up with a new feature similar to Snapchat. Unlike Snapchat, where the maximum time limit is 10 seconds per photo and video, Tinder allows users to view explicit content photos for twenty-four hours before disappearing.[117]

In May 2014, UCLA students made claims regarding whether or not young people believe Snapchat is used for sexting. Most of the students that were interviewed by CNBC did not recognize Snapchat as an application used for sexting. They claimed that the majority of the students send each other snaps of their friends sleeping and drawing on their faces. Students believe that Snapchat is an easily accessible tool to send photos and videos to many people instantly. They further went on to state that sexting is not a serious issue in society today.[118]

On June 4, 2014, sacked Carlton Australian Rules football player Josh Bootsma was accused of demanding his 21-year-old girlfriend and fan to send him explicit photos and videos. Snapchat was one of the social media applications that he used to ask sexual favors from her. Bootsma was allegedly sexting multiple girls other than his girlfriend, asking for dirty snaps daily. A 15-year-old girl was known to be his first victim for receiving sexual content through Snapchat. Carlton has made the decision to terminate his contract due to league of conduct and breaching the contract as a result of sexting through Snapchat. Carlton's general manager stated that they have decided to release Bootsma for not living up to the standards of an AFL player.[119]

On November 14, 2013, police in Laval, Quebec, Canada, arrested 10 boys aged 13 to 15 on child pornography charges after the boys allegedly captured and shared explicit photos of teenage girls sent through Snapchat as screenshots.[120][121]

Legal issues with the FTC

Earlier in 2014, Snapchat ran into some legal issues with the FTC regarding its privacy policy. On May 8, 2014, Snapchat had accepted charges from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the company misleading users on the level of privacy offered and collecting user information in a way that violated its privacy policies. Users could screenshot photos and download third party applications that record all the content that supposedly disappears.[122] Users could even save videos by connecting their device to their computer because Snapchat didn't store videos in the private storage area on the device that other apps couldn't access.[123] The FTC also accused Snapchat of collecting email contacts from users without their consent and failing to repair security flaws in the "Find Friends" feature.[122] Because Snapchat never verified any phone numbers on this feature, users sent Snaps to complete strangers whom they believed to be their friends.[112] Snapchat never admitted to or denied any of the allegations, but after being pressured by the FTC to change its policies and placed under strict surveillance for the next 20 years, Snapchat agreed to revise its privacy policy.[122]

Changes in Snapchat's privacy policy

As of December 16, 2012, Snapchat's privacy policy was written so Snapchat was protected from legal disputes. Users can't hold Snapchat accountable for anything that might result from its services. If users managed to sue Snapchat, the limit could not exceed one US dollar. Snapchat's privacy policy also disclosed that the company collects individual's username, password, email, phone number, and Facebook ID to find friends also using Snapchat. As well, it collects "usage information," which the company claims to be anonymous, that could be shared with third parties. Snapchat may also be able to view the photos sent through its servers, though the policy states that Snapchat will "temporarily process and store [users'] images in order to provide [its] services".[124] However, after being put in the spotlight by the FTC, Snapchat modified its privacy policy to be more specific and transparent for users. Last updated on May 1, 2014, Snapchat's privacy policy is organized into seven categories: collection of information, information we collect automatically when you use the services, information we collect from other sources, use of information, sharing of information, analytics services provided by others, security, children, and your choices.[125]

Snapchat and the FTC

On May 8, 2014, Snapchat and the Federal Trade Commission agreed upon a settlement over the charges of misrepresentations of the app as well as the failure of securing the privacy of their users.

A group of anonymous hackers from SnapchatDB revealed Snapchat's failure to secure their "Find Friends" feature on December 25, 2013. Gibson Security had previously warned Snapchat about their security issues and urged them to take immediate action. Disregarding this warning, this led the massive hack of 4.6 million Snapchat users and their phone numbers. The phone numbers of the hacked users were partially displayed online through SnapchatDB. Although SnapchatDB was taken down, the information of leaked usernames is still currently available through GibsonSec by entering in the Snapchat user's username.[126] [127] According to the Federal Trade Commission, the contact information of iOS users were retrieved through Snapchat's "Find Friends" feature. With doing so, Snapchat had gained access of these contacts without the consent of their users. This led to the Federal Trade Commission's involvement of overseeing matters of Snapchat's privacy and security of their users.[128]

Snapchat provides a photo messaging service where people can privately send photos and videos with the promise that the message would vanish within seconds. Lately there has been a revelation that messages did not vanish after viewing and some users were able to avert the "screenshot" alert sent to senders if the receiver had screenshot the sent photo. The promise of disappearing messages was misguided as the FTC reports that it was made available to third-party apps through iTunes and Google Play. With third-party apps, this made message retrievable possible for playbacks with the connection of a computer.[129]

FTC's Chairman, Edith Ramirez stated in FTC's press release, "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." To protect the privacy of Snapchat's users, the FTC settled the dispute against Snapchat in which they are to protect their users. According to the Federal Trade Commission press release, Snapchat is "prohibited from misrepresenting the extent to which it maintains the privacy, security, or confidentiality of users' information." Thus, this prompted the Federal Trade Commission to audit Snapchat for the next 20 years.[128][130]

In efforts of to reassure and gain back the trust of their users, on May 8, 2014, Snapchat released a statement on their website stating their purpose of "developing a fast, and fun way to communicate with photos". Snapchat released a statement regarding their settlement with the FTC as they acknowledged their mistakes and promise on fixing them. The company stated in their blog, "Even before today's consent decree was announced, we had resolved most of those concerns over the past year by improving the wording of our privacy policy, app description, and in-app just-in-time notifications. And we continue to invest heavily in security and countermeasures to prevent abuse".[131] Snapchat promised to be more precise on communications with their users as they will for the next 20 years be under a consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission.[131]

See also

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