Snapchat co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel would like Facebook to know that if it continues to copy his company’s ideas, he would very much appreciate “if they copied our data protection practices also,” he said at a tech conference on Tuesday.
Facebook’s privacy rules have been under scrutiny since the public found out that the social media platform collects users’ data for tailored ads.
“We would really appreciate it if [Facebook] copied our data protection practices also,” Spiegel said on stage at Recode’s annual Code Conference in California.
Facebook has been accused of copying Snapchat’s stories and camera filters features on Instagram, which Facebook owns.
Spiegel is flattered by Facebook constantly copying his company’s ideas. When designers create something so “simply” and so “eloquently” that the only thing Facebook or other companies can do is copy it, that “is the most fantastic triumph in the world,” he said to applause from the crowd.
The reason, according to Spiegel, that Snapchat is able to stay ahead of Facebook and Instagram is because of his company’s values, describing Snapchat as being more personal than those platforms — which only serve to satisfy egos.
“I think that’s why traditional social media feels threatened. Because fundamentally people realize that competing with their friends for ‘Likes’ and attention is kind of unpleasant and really not that great,” he said.
Facebook’s chief security officer, Alex Stamos, fired back in a tweet on Tuesday, saying Snapchat’s security features are weak.
“Snapchat’s implicit promise that photos really disappear combined with poor API security has led to serious mass leaks of revenge porn. So no, I don’t think copying Snapchat would be a smart move,” Stamos said.
Other tech giants have been accused of hurting smaller businesses by copying ideas. (RELATED: Google Is Crushing Small Business, Antitrust Authorities Say)
Yelp co-founder and CEO Jeremy Stoppelman said in a “60 Minutes” interview on May 20 that if he was starting out now, he “would have no shot of building Yelp.” He showed “60 Minutes” host Steve Kroft in that interview that Google reviews show up before Yelp reviews when Google users search business reviews in their area.
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