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This article was published on November 2, 2015

Snapchat clarifies its new Terms of Service and says your snaps are private as ever


Snapchat clarifies its new Terms of Service and says your snaps are private as ever

Snapchat received some backlash a few days ago over its updated Terms of Service – which many interpreted to imply the company would now be storing your images to use in advertising.

Well, that’s true, but Snapchat already did so before for content like Live Stories – it has to save the photos and videos somewhere to share them with other parts of the world throughout the day.

As such we thought the worries were overblown, and now Snapchat itself has clarified the new ToS.

Basically, the company says that nothing’s really changed for its users; it simply modified the language it used to describe what it was already doing. Here’s the company’s reasoning:

  • The main thing we did was to rewrite the Terms and Privacy Policy so that they’d read the way people actually talk. We always try to be upfront and clear with our community.
  • We added language to the Terms of Service regarding in-app purchases. We needed to do that now that we’re selling Replays—and have some other cool products and services we’re looking forward to bringing to you soon.
  • To make it a little easier for friends to find you on Snapchat, we’ve clarified what info—like your name—will be visible to other Snapchatters and how you can modify that info.

The new ToS should make it a little clearer how and when Snapchat is using your data, as well as enable the company to further implement in-app purchases and future features.

In any case, you should probably remember that few things on the internet are truly private, and photos being deleted off of Snapchat servers don’t mean someone can’t just take a screenshot or use a camera. As always, snap with caution.

Protecting your Privacy [Snapchat]

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