Back in 2014 Snapchat was in hot water with the FTC over a claim they made in their FAQ section. The company claimed that all "snaps" disappeared when the time ran out and that there was no way to retrieve the photos once they were gone. This allowed users to believe that they could send whatever they wanted over the messaging service without running the risk of the "wrong people" seeing it.
However, the FTC discovered that Snapchat has many "back doors" where third-party apps can enter and collect the photos and videos that allegedly disappeared. Users can also connect their devices to a PC and download any "lost" photos or videos.
Instead of fighting the claims, Snapchat settled with the FTC. This resulted in a "transparency" blog post by the company and the required surveillance of an independent privacy professional for the next 20 years. The settlement also prohibited Snapchat from using such words/claims as "ephemeral," "disappear forever," and "aren't saved" when describing their service.
So my question is this: are we really that surprised? At the time of which this ruling came out, online consumers were already aware of Google's and Facebook's algorithm, so is it really a shock that Snapchat had a similar process? We live in a world where it's safe to assume that every social app has a backdoor where all data (status updates, photos, videos, etc.) is saved. The idea of privacy in terms of social media has become an illusion. However, as a society we have participated in a collective private acceptance. We know that nothing we share or post is ever really lost, we just choose to ignore the reality that a stranger can access this information without our knowledge. This gives us the freedom to post without caution, not caring (but not ignorant) to the truth that whatever happens on Snapchat, does actually stay on Snapchat.
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