Snapchat has now entered damage control mode after its CEO’s “India is poor” remark, which earned the social media company much wrath.
On Monday, the company refuted the reported claims of a former employee, who alleged that CEO Evan Spiegel made negative comments about the Indian market by saying that the multimedia mobile app is for everyone and the company is "grateful" to its Indian users.
Obviously Snapchat is for everyone! It’s available worldwide to download for freeSpokesperson for Snapchat to CNN
Snapchat is strongly denying allegations by a former employee Anthony Pompliano, who claimed in a lawsuit that Spiegel had once shot down his suggestion to pursue growth in certain international markets.
Pompliano alleged that Spiegel said Snapchat was "only for rich people" and that he didn't want to "expand into poor countries like India and Spain.”
"Those words were written by a disgruntled former employee. We are grateful for our Snapchat community in India and around the world," the spokesperson said.
The claims emerged last week when documents were made public from a lawsuit by Pompliano against Snapchat's parent company, Snap.
Pompliano was fired in 2015 after only three weeks at the company.
Spiegel's remarks caused an uproar in India where users quickly started uninstalling the Snapchat app.
However, in a case of mistaken identity, many people downgraded and uninstalled the mobile application of e-commerce platform Snapdeal instead of Snapchat to mark their protest against the unverified comments of the latter’s CEO.
Also Read: Snapchat Backlash: When App Ratings Bear the Brunt of Public Anger
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