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Snapchat isn’t ‘stockpiling your private Snaps’

There’s plenty to be angry about in this world, but few things are as successful at inciting mass panic than changes to terms and conditions.
    
Snapchat has responded to furore over the weekend regarding an update to its privacy policy.

In the press, much was made of the vague and sweeping clauses contained in Snapchat’s new terms and conditions.

However, the company claims it isn’t actually working on a nefarious plot that involves you and your selfies.

The Snaps and Chats you send your friends remain as private today as they were before the update,” explains Snapchat, in a blog post. “Our Privacy Policy continues to say – as it did before – that those messages ‘are automatically deleted from our servers once we detect that they have been viewed or have expired’.”

It continues: “But the important point is that Snapchat is not – and never has been – stockpiling your private Snaps or Chats.”

Much of the furore surrounded Snapchat’s broad remit to re-use content created by its users.

However, the company says it needs the license to include Snaps submitted to ‘Live Stories’, for instance.

Related: Best Android Apps 2015

So why did Snapchat change its Privacy Policy and Terms of Use?

According to the company, the first reason was so that the terms would “read the way people actually talk”,

The second reason was to include reference to in-app purchases, as a result of Snapchat now offering paid-for Snap ‘Replays’.

And the third reason was to clarify what information – like your name – will be visible to other people on Snapchat.

Do you think Snapchat needs to have a clearer privacy policy, or has the change been overblown? Let us know in the comments.

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