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Snapchat apologizes and pulls Juneteenth smile chain breaking filter

Snapchat has apologized and removed a racially insensitive filter today.

Asif Khan

June 19, 2020 5:45 PM

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Snapchat really stepped in it today with a recently removed Juneteenth filter. The filter uses a Pan-African flag backdrop and prompts users to smile, which triggers chains to appear and be broken behind them. Please take a look at this magumbo.

This SnapChat #Juneteenth filter is...um...interesting.

Smile to break the chains? Okay then. pic.twitter.com/Wyob3kT3ew

— Mark S. Luckie (@marksluckie) June 19, 2020

A Snap (SNAP) spokesperson made the following statement to CNBC:

“We deeply apologize to the members of the Snapchat community who found this Lens offensive. A diverse group of Snap team members were involved in developing the concept, but a version of the Lens that went live for Snapchatters this morning had not been approved through our review process. We are investigating why this mistake occurred so that we can avoid it in the future.”

Juneteenth is a celebration of the day enslaved African Americans in Texas were made aware of the fact that the Civil War had ended and they were free. June 19, 1865 would become the day that slavery officially came to an end in the United States of America. The Confederate army had surrendered in April of the same year, and Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. 

Juneteenth is a hugely important anniversary in Black History, and Snapchat probably should have consulted a black person before shipping that Lens. This insensitive PR failure comes just a week after Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said that the company would continue to keep its diversity report private at an employee all-hands meeting. 

"I've always been concerned that releasing that data publicly only reinforces the perception that tech is not a place for underrepresented groups." 

This company sure sounds like a bunch of Chads accidentally made an app that people ended up using. I find it amusing that Snapchatters have figured out how to monetize the platform (Private Snapchat) better than the company has. Snap Inc. has a market capitalization valuing the company at $32 billion. They didn't turn a profit last year, but I can guarantee several egirls made bank on their platform.

Only time will tell if Snapchat users will flee the platform for Instagram or TikTok following this latest terrible move by the Snap Inc. leadership.

Asif Khan

CEO/EIC/EIEIO

Asif Khan is the CEO, EIC, and majority shareholder of Shacknews. He began his career in video game journalism as a freelancer in 2001 for Tendobox.com. Asif is a CPA and was formerly an investment adviser representative. After much success in his own personal investments, he retired from his day job in financial services and is currently focused on new private investments. His favorite PC game of all time is Duke Nukem 3D, and he is an unapologetic fan of most things Nintendo. Asif first frequented the Shack when it was sCary's Shugashack to find all things Quake. When he is not immersed in investments or gaming he is a purveyor of fine electronic music. Asif also has an irrational love of Cleveland sports.