Angry On Snapchat CEO’s ‘Poor India’ Remark, Hackers Leak 1.7 Million Users’ Data; #BoycottSnapchat Trends

There are many methods using which one can incite anger among Indians; and Snapchat management just discovered one of them: Call India as poor.

After a report emerged that Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel has called India as a poor country, intense anger erupted all over India.

As per the report, way back in 2015, Snapchat’s CEO and other leaders were having an internal meeting regarding Snapchat’s growth, globally. One of the employees named Anthony Pompliano was explaining some reason about Snapchat’s slow growth in India.

Suddenly, Evan interrupted, and said, “This app is only for rich people. I don’t want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain.”

The report was published based on Anthony Pompliano’s statements, and details filed by him in a case in court.

It must be noted that Snapchat later issued a statement, saying that Evan has never said these lines, and Anthony Pompliano is fabricating these claims, as he was terminated from the company due to bad performance.

In their statement, Snapchat said, “This is ridiculous. 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,”

But, the damage had been done.

Hackers Leak 1.7 Million Users Data

Anonymous Indian hackers have claimed responsibility for hacking and leaking around 1.7 million users’ data of Snapchat app.

As per the claim, the hackers had discovered a vulnerability in the Snapchat app, last year in December. Now, after their CEO Evan issued anti-India statements, and his ‘arrogance’, the hackers were angry, and in retaliation, they leaked 1.7 million users’ data.

However, Snapchat has vehemently denied any such leak of users’ data.

#BoycottSnapchat Trends; Indians Uninstall Snapchat, Give 1 Star Ratings

Despite Snapchat issuing statements, denying any such statement describing India as a poor country, various users from all over India started uninstalling the app and gave massive 1 star ratings to the app.

Hashtags such as #BoycottSnapchat were trending since the beginning of the weekend.

People entered comments such as these: “Dear CEO of Snapchat…why don’t you come to India and check out Indians”

And lots of tweets:

India:
Launched 104 Satellite
7th Wealthiest Nation
Fastest Growing Economy #boycottsnapchat @evanspiegel @Snapchat
U r now Our new Pappu pic.twitter.com/MwLXkBOML6

— Sanchit Agnihotri (@iamrealsanchit) April 16, 2017

Now i can proudly say that I have never used this app #boycottsnapchat

— Alankrita Pathak (@imalnkritapthk) April 16, 2017

Now i can proudly say that I have never used this app #boycottsnapchat

— Alankrita Pathak (@imalnkritapthk) April 16, 2017

In reply, several users also said that uninstalling Snapchat is not the solution because India’s poverty cannot be removed this way.

Boycotting Snapdeal instead of Snapchat is the equivalent of slapping Arbaaz Khan because you’re angry with Roger Federer.

— Sahil Shah (@SahilBulla) April 16, 2017

Snapdeal Faces the Brunt

Meanwhile, due to the confusion, hundreds of users started uninstalling Snapdeal app, thinking that the CEO of Snapdeal had made these statements about India being poor.

These were some of the comments which angry users posted on Snapdeal’s app on the Appstore:

Ultimately, Snapdeal’s founder had to come to Twitter, and make this statement:

@thetanmay Thanks bud. Ppl asking us to make a statement that @snapdeal is not @snapchat was possibly the last thing I thought I would ever need to do.

— Kunal Bahl (@1kunalbahl) April 16, 2017

If you are a Snapchat user in India, then we would love to have your opinion on this issue: Did you uninstall the app in retaliation? Do you think that uninstalling Snapchat app will solve the problem of poverty in India?