Snapchat’s ratings plunge after its CEO allegedly says it’s ‘only for rich people’

Snapchat’s ratings plunge after its CEO allegedly says it’s ‘only for rich people’

BY GREG HADLEY GHADLEY@MCCLATCHY.COM APRIL 16, 2017 6:49 PM

Snapchat, the popular photo and video sharing app, was already having a bad week. Now it’s gotten even worse.

Instagram, one of the app’s main rivals, announced Thursday that its “Stories” feature, a clear knock-off of Snapchat’s feature of deleting content after 24 hours, already has more users than Snapchat does.

Now, Snapchat’s rating on Apple’s App Store stands at 1.5 stars as of Sunday afternoon, a drop from its previous status at four or more stars as recently as a month ago.

The reason is a viral international effort on social media in response to alleged comments made by Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, one of the youngest self-made billionaires in the world.

A former employee of Snap, Anthony Pompliano, filed a lawsuit against the company that was recently unsealed and publicly reported on after Snap dropped its efforts to stop the filings from being kept secret.

In that lawsuit, Pompliano, who only spent three weeks with Snap, says the he raised concerns in a meeting about the app’s growth outside the U.S., per Variety.

“This app is only for rich people,” Spiegel responded, according to Pompliano. “I don’t want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain.”

Spiegel’s alleged comments exploded on social media, especially in India, where #uninstallsnapchat and #boycottsnapchat trended for hours on Saturday and Sunday.

People also began to flood the app with low ratings and poor reviews. On Google Play, the app still maintains a four-star rating, but the number of one-star reviews is now the second most common rating, as of Sunday afternoon.

“People like you divide the world,” one reviewer told Spiegel.

India is ranked 159th out of 230 countries by GDP per capita, according to the CIA. Spain ranks 52nd.

However, Spiegel and Snap insist that he never made those comments.

“This is ridiculous,” a Snap spokesperson told Business Insider. “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.”

Since the stock market closed Thursday, it remains to be seen if the controversy will impact the company’s value.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article144942489.html


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BMW traps alleged thief by remotely locking him in car

BMW traps alleged thief by remotely locking him in car Stealer's Wheel? Seattle police department quotes "Watchmen" movie in a recap of the recent arrest. Tech Culture by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper December 4, 2016 5:00 PM PST It's maybe the most satisfying arrest we can imagine. Seattle police caught an alleged car thief by enlisting the help of car maker BMW to both track and then remotely lock the luckless criminal in the very car he was trying to steal. Jonah Spangenthal-Lee, deputy director of communications for the Seattle Police Department, posted a witty summary of the event on the SPD's blog on Wednesday. Turns out if you're inside a stolen car, it's perhaps not the best time to take a nap. "A car thief awoke from a sound slumber Sunday morning (Nov. 27) to find he had been remotely locked inside a stolen BMW, just as Seattle police officers were bearing down on him," Spangenthal-Lee wrote. The suspect found a ke...
Read more

Report: World’s 1st remote brain surgery via 5G network performed in China

World’s 1st remote brain surgery via 5G network performed in China Published time: 17 Mar, 2019 13:12 ·           A Chinese surgeon has performed the world’s first remote brain surgery using 5G technology, with the patient 3,000km away from the operating doctor. Dr. Ling Zhipei remotely implanted a neurostimulator into his patient’s brain on Saturday, Chinese state-run media  reports . The surgeon manipulated the instruments in the Beijing-based PLAGH hospital from a clinic subsidiary on the southern Hainan island, located 3,000km away. The surgery is said to have lasted three hours and ended successfully. The patient, suffering from Parkinson’s disease, is said to be feeling well after the pioneering operation. The doctor used a computer connected to the next-generation 5G network developed by Chinese tech giant Huawei. The new device enabled a near real-time connection, according to Dr. Ling.  “You barely feel that th...
Read more

New ATM's: withdraw money with veins in your finger

New cash machines: withdraw money with veins in your finger Cash machine technology that reads the pattern of finger veins is already available in Japan and Poland   By Telegraph Reporters 6:59PM BST 15 May 2014 Cash machines could soon be installed with devices that identify customers by reading the veins in their fingers. The technology is already being rolled out in Poland, where 1,730 cash machines will this year be installed with readers, negating the need for a debit card and Pin. Developed by Hitachi, the Japanese electronics firm, the machines read the patterns of the veins just below the surface of the skin on your finger using infra-red sensors. The light is partially absorbed by haemoglobin in the veins to capture a unique finger vein pattern profile, which is matched to a profile. The technology is used by Japanese banks and also in Turkey, offering “groundbreaking levels of accuracy and speed of authentication”, Hitachi said, which in t...
Read more