Snapchat Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel now, denies on his comments after his ex-employee made allegations on him that he commented Snapchat to be an “app for rich people” and India is a not profitable market for Snapchat expansion as it is a poor country.
A twenty-page document, filed by an ex-employee of Snapchat, Anthony Pompliano, presented an extract which exposed the style of work. He sued the company on the work style which was being carried out under Evan’s Supervision was questionable and is uncertain. The extract of the allegation is that the CEO of Snapchat Evan Spiegel reacted Saying “this app is only for rich people. I don’t want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain.”, On being said that the performance of Snapchat in Foreign Markets is poor.
Snap Inc., with official documents, opposed the claims and further said, “This is ridiculous. Obviously, Snapchat is for everyone! It’s available worldwide to download for free.”
There was also a clarification released to the press on Pompliano’s Section with regards to the allegation that Snapchat were showing inflated numbers to its investors. “In the notice, we filed with the court when we unsealed Pompliano’s original complaint (attached), we wrote: ‘Snap did not give investors misstated user metrics back in 2015; nor did Snap employees commit any of the panoplies of alleged bad acts that litter Pompliano’s complaint. Snap will demonstrate as much at the appropriate time in the appropriate forum’,” says the statement.
It was stated that Evan, traveled to speak at the Economic Times Startup Awards in 2015, and also is a leading Entrepreneur, especially in India.
Pompliano’s Statement disturbed a considerable number of Snapchat users from India, carrying the hashtag “BoycottSnapchat“ basing on social networking sites, provoking the users to rate the app with one star and uninstall the app to show opposition. As a result of people’s reaction to defend their nation from a statement which is not proved by the court of law, the app ratings fell short instantly. The Google Play store showed one-star ratings in a big number for snap chat and the Indian Users’ comment threads countered his statement.
A few users also commented on the portals which said that India is hard geography for monetising. “A true but hard fact is that the Indian market does not monetize well! Average revenue per user is way too low in comparison to the cost of acquiring a customer,” says Facebook user Ravindra Sonavane. This opinion, somehow, could not influence the snapchat users. Evidently, many users are participating in the protest.