Snapchat Case Summary

Description
Similarly, Snapchat is a new social media company, app, and service, one that touts privacy and security as its primary focus and its usage is rising as more and more devices have the app installed. Not only that, but the company is looking to be treated less as entertainment and more as a serious business partner for other companies. Snapchat is growing in usage in terms of both user base and potential (1).
Features
In terms of functionality, Snapchat is the same as the majority of other social media apps and services with few exceptions. One of the prominent exceptions is the claim from Snapchat Inc. that the snaps you send through the Snapchat app disappear from the digital record after being sent. The other exceptions are

Specifically, this lays under information that is collected when Snapchat is used as well as the various types of metadata available to Snapchat such as the type of devices, cookie data, log, usage, and content information (7). With this, Snapchat uses this data to improve the service, ad targeting and measurement, apply labels, and enforce their terms of service among other uses for the information collected (8). While this data collection is a regular process by the vast majority of social media companies and services, this has the potential to cause issues beyond simple data retention and lawsuits to censorship and corruption. If this information is available to Snapchat as availably as is, any state or party that is willing to buy or force access to this will have the ability to spy on and breach the safety of any targeted users and their contacts. With the present actions of governments becoming a significant threat to personal freedoms, this is an potential disaster to any future groups opposed to a government or a majority group as well as presenting an issue to personal privacy in its own

Snapchat experiences the behavioral effects of lacking complete anonymity as other services do, something that has led to the spread of a chilling effect through the internet and the world. As internet anonymity slowly disappears the possibility of being associated with an unpleasant comment or opinion becomes a valid threat, especially for those who may be targeted or who may suffer from such an association with their name (9). Specifically, this is an issue when discussing anything regarding politics or a controversial and divisive issue. This even spilled into an issue of credibility as comments and messages are perceived by users, an anonymous positive comment based in facts receiving an improved response then an opinion comment that is named (6). This is cause for concern given the nature of the internet as a whole as well as the combination of the chilling effect from non-anonymous accounts bearing risk of association and the perception of a named account’s opinion being perceived differently by the reader and threatens the American principle of free speech. The principle of free speech has allowed the internet and social media to grow as organically as it has, without fear of association to unpleasant and unpopular connotations. By