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Snapchat admits photos don’t “disappear” forever

Posted at 12:58 PM, May 09, 2014
and last updated 2014-05-09 12:58:57-04

Snapchat can no longer claim that pictures sent over their service will disappear forever.

The company reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission on Thursday after the FTC argued that Snapchat was deceiving customers.

Snapchat is a private messaging app where photos are sent and “disappear” automatically after a certain amount of time.

But the pictures don’t disappear forever from Snapchat’s servers. Not to mention, it’s easy to open the pictures in a third-party app and save them.

The complaint accused Snapchat of misleading users about how much personal data it collects and how securely the data is stored.

Snapchat agreed to settle the charges rather than go to court.

As part of the settlement terms, Snapchat must implement a “comprehensive privacy program that will be monitored by an independent privacy professional for the next 20 years,” the FTC wrote in a blog post.