Snapchat forced to reassure users it’s not archiving pictures amidst privacy storm
Ephemeral messaging app Snapchat has moved to reassure users that it is not hoarding pictures sent via the service, amidst the latest row relating to the platforms privacy policy.
This follows a recent update to the sites terms of service, sparking media complaints that the rewrite had essentially handed Snapchat the right to use any content uploaded to its servers for any usage in perpetuity.
The all-encompassing wording warned any individual uploading an image that: “…you grant Snapchat a worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable license to host, store, use, display, reproduce, modify, adapt, edit, publish, create derivative works from, publicly perform, broadcast, distribute, syndicate, promote, exhibit, and publicly display that content in any form and in any and all media or distribution methods (now known or later developed).”
Responding to the cascade of outrage that greeted this text Snapchat retorted in a blog post that "Snapchat is not—and never has been—stockpiling your private Snaps or Chats. And because we continue to delete them from our servers as soon as they’re read, we could not—and do not—share them with advertisers or business partners."
Instead the messaging app insists that it has merely made its existing privacy policy easier to understand to make it easier to follow rules pertaining to in-app purchases and to clarify what identifying information will be shared with other users.
Nevertheless Snapchat wasn’t able to offer a rock solid guarantee that messages and data would be deleted within a given timeframe.