Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel has taken a multi-pronged dig at Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook.
Speaking at the Code Conference in California this week, he called the social network out for copying Snapchat’s core features, such as Stories and filters, and then made cheeky references to the Cambridge Analytica scandal for good measure.
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Asked how he felt about Facebook’s ongoing policy of blatantly ripping Snapchat features, Spiegel said it’s “the most fantastic triumph in the world” for designers. He added that he believes that “traditional social media feels threatened” by Snapchat, and joked that Facebook’s copying of Snapchat’s features bothers his wife, Miranda Kerr, more than it bothers him.
“We would really appreciate it if they copied our data protection practices also,” he added, just before Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg was due to take the stage. “Maybe that’s what Sheryl’s announcing after.”
The crowd, as you’d expect, loved it, greeting his comments with a mixture laughter and applause. You can watch the juicy action in the video below, from the 22-minute mark.
Not quite done with roasting Facebook, he continued: “It’s important to point out that there wasn’t any Russian manipulation of Snapchat. That there are alternatives and that the way you treat user privacy is really important. And for us, that goes back to when we were in my dorm room… we cared about data retention.”
It was reported earlier this year that Mark Zuckerberg, back when he was 19 and Facebook was barely up and running, called users of the site “dumb f*cks” because they trusted him to keep their personal details private.
Zuckerberg has been involved in recent wars of words with Elon Musk and Tim Cook too, but he’s yet to respond (in public anyway) to Spiegel’s barbs.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
