‘Snapchat employees abused internal tool to spy on users’

Several departments of the social media service Snapchat would have a tool with which they can view user data. According to the tech site Motherboard, several employees have abused the tool to spy on Snapchat users.

Motherboard is relying on statements from four former Snapchat employees, one person who still works there, and a number of internal emails the tech site has gotten their hands on. It would appear that “several years ago” Snap employees had internal tools that allowed them to access all kinds of user data, such as location information, phone numbers, email addresses and saved Snaps. Snaps are photos or videos that, if the user does not save them, automatically disappear after receiving them.

One of the tools Motherboard’s resources talk about is called SnapLion. The application was used, among other things, to combat spam and harassment on the Snapchat platform, but was also easily accessible to departments and employees unrelated to that task. It is not clear whether the tools are still in use today and whether they are still being abused.

Tools like SnapLion are often used by technology companies. Sometimes access to user data is necessary, for example when the police and the judiciary request this information. In practice, however, such tools are regularly misused. For example, Facebook fired an employee last year for misusing personal data to stalk a woman, and Uber employees made the mistake of tracking the activities of politicians, celebrities and ex-partners via the God View function of a tool.