The untold story of Snapchat what make millionaires and a Ghost that Haunts Mark Zuckerberg part six

 Snapchat: The Ghost That Haunts Zuckerberg. Part six

The frat boy. The problems created by media.

With Snapchat now in the media spotlight, they soon began to face a lot more criticism. Because the photos and messages disappear, Snapchat has been repeatedly linked to crimes, with claims like Snapchat being used by drug dealers to target kids. Another article claimed Snapchat 'Has Become A Haven' For Child Predators.

Then In August 2013, a security research group reverse-engineered part of Snapchat’s app and found security flaws that allowed hackers to access usernames and phone numbers. They actually told Snapchat, but they didn’t respond and didn’t seem to take the issue seriously. A few months later, a hacker group exploited this and released a database online with the details of 4.6 million Snapchat users. Even still, Evan tried to downplay it, and never really apologized. Many in the media were furious about his recklessness towards users’ data.

It also didn’t help that Snapchat launched a new feature called Snap Map, allowing you to see the exact location of your friends on a map. Whilst of course you could turn off the tracking feature, remember many of Snapchat’s users were very young, and perhaps didn’t quite realize the potential risks of broadcasting your exact GPS coordinates 24/7.

Snapchat also had to settle charges with the FTC over privacy concerns, when it was found that Snapchat collected a lot more data than it said it did. Additionally, the FTC discovered that snaps did not disappear like they were supposed to, and could easily be saved by using third-party apps.

And then, somewhat ironically, Evan himself was the victim of a privacy breach, when old emails he’d sent whilst at college, got leaked to the public.

Most of these emails had been sent whilst Evan was drunk, and in a fraternity, and they were controversial to say the least.

The emails portrayed Evan in the worst possible light - an obnoxious, misogynistic homophobic frat bro. Evan released a statement that he was mortified and that his words were inexcusable, but he was no longer that person. Ironically, Evan must have been wishing he’d created Snapchat a little earlier, as then those messages would have all disappeared without a trace.

But many in the media called for Evan to be fired immediately. They claimed that after all these controversies, it would be impossible for big corporations to do serious deals with Snapchat with Evan as the CEO. This brings us to the biggest problem of all that Evan was facing. Snapchat was still making almost no money.

Click here to read how Snapchat makes money.