Dante Alighieri (an Italian poet) once said ‘from a little spark may burst a mighty flame’ turned out more like a prophecy on the current situation of Snapchat. Two small sparks ‘poor’ and ‘India’ is all it took to bring about a mighty flame of India’s anger.
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED
Anthony Pompliano an ex- employee of Snapchat files a lawsuit against stating that the company was exaggerating its user data to lure in more investors and advertisers. According to Variety, in his lawsuit, Anthony stated that Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snapchat told him “this app is only for the rich people. I don’t want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain”.
This was first published by Variety and later published by many leading media houses in India. Upon hearing this news people of India were enraged. It has not yet been proved in any court and hence remains as an allegation for the time being.
PEOPLE’S REACTION
People, especially Indians took to social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to express their anger. Many people have uninstalled the app as a mark of protest against the company. #snapchat and #boycott Snapchat has been going viral. Indians took it to the next level by asking fellow citizens to give Snapchat 1 stars as a rating in the App store. According to the information of app store, the Snapchat rating dropped from four stars to one star.
Comments like ‘I don’t think our country deserves rich apps like your’s’, ‘Snapchat CEO’s worth is USD 4 billion and Mukesh Ambani’s USD 30 billion and yet you call India poor?’, ‘in all the process of asking others their story, Snapchat lost its own” and much more are making rounds.
The company has denied all allegations and stated that this was the work of a disgruntled ex-employee and nothing more. Will Snapchat be able to gain back its Indian customers or has the company’s connection with India really snapped?
