Pop singer Rihanna called out Snapchat for making fun of domestic violence victims and urged her fans to stop using the app after it ran an ad making light of her abuse at the hands of then boyfriend Chris Brown.
The move is said to have wiped out USD 1 billion in Snap Inc's stock market value.
Rihanna's image appeared on an ad (which has since been taken down) on Snapchat for an online game called “Would You Rather”. It showed images of the pop star and Chris Brown asking users if they would rather “Slap Rihanna” or “Punch Chris Brown”.
Brown had pleaded guilty to assaulting Rihanna in 2009 after he was accused of domestic violence following the release of images that showed her bruised face.
In her Instagram story, Rihanna wrote, “Now SNAPCHAT I know you already know you ain't my fav app out there! But I'm just trying to figure out what the point was with this mess! I'd love to call ignorance, but I know you ain't that dumb! You spent money to animate something that would intentionally bring shame to DV victims and made a joke of it!!!,” she added, referring to domestic violence. “This isn't about my personal feelings, cause I don't have much of them... but all the women, children and men that have been victims of (domestic violence) in the past and especially the ones who haven't made it out yet... you let us down! Shame on you. Throw the whole app-oligy away.”
The ad that ran on Snapchat has since been removed
“This advertisement is disgusting and never should have appeared on our service," a Snap Inc. spokesman said. “We are so sorry we made the terrible mistake of allowing it through our review process. We are investigating how that happened so that we can make sure it never happens again.”
Snap Inc released a statement apologising for the ad, saying it “was reviewed and approved in error”. The advertiser has since been blocked from the platform.
Several social media users, including fans, said that they were following Rihanna’s call to delete the Snapchat app.
With inputs from agencies