By Bryse Thornwell ’16

By now, most students are aware of the mobile messaging app, Snapchat, that allows both Android and iPhone users to send pictures or videos to their friends on a contact list. Snapchat Inc. promises to delete those photos or videos after a designated amount of time set by the sender. The company also promises to do its best to notify the sender if the receiver took a “screenshot” or saved whatever content the sender sent to them.

However, recently Snapchat’s privacy concerns have attracted the attention of the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC charges that “it deceived consumers with promises about the disappearing nature of the messages sent through the service.” Multiple third party apps, found for free on both iPhones and Androids, can save the content sent by Snapchat users without notifying the sender. While Snapchat’s small disclaimer states that Snaps deleted from the servers could possibly still be recovered, the FTC maintains that Snapchat continues to advertise the short-lived nature for messages.

In addition to falsely advertising the nature of the Snaps, the FTC also alleges that Snapchat not only deceived customers over how much personal data it collected, it also failed to secure its “Find Friends” feature which led to a security breach in 4.6 million accounts. The users who were “hacked” found themselves sending photos and videos to complete strangers while they were under the impression they were chatting with a friend.

Although the developer of Snapchat has agreed to settle the charges, and the app will be subject to monitoring by an independent privacy professional for the next 20 years, Snapchat users should still be mindful about the content they send while using the app.