Evan Spiegel just threw some serious shade at Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook
Surprise, surprise, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel is NOT a fan of Facebook and its incessant copying of Snapchat.
But what is a little surprising is the usually reserved CEO just threw some serious shade at Facebook and CEO Mark Zuckerberg over its handling of users' data privacy.
Speaking at Recode's Code Conference Tuesday, Spiegel was asked how he felt about Facebook's continued copying of Snapchat, he said, "We would really appreciate it if they copied our data protection practices also."
Ouch.
The remark, was of course, a reference to the Cambridge Analytica scandal and others that have rocked Facebook as users have become aware that the behemoth social network hasn't always done a very good job at protecting its users data.
Spiegel also noted that, unlike Facebook, "There wasn't any Russian manipulation of Snapchat." (He didn't, however, mention that with only a tiny fraction of Facebook's user base, many of whom are under the age of 18, Snapchat was likely far less attractive to the Russians than Facebook, but who's keeping track.)
He also had some strong words of criticism for Facebook's and its "DNA" as a place where people are constantly "competing with their friends for likes attention."
“Fundamentally, they’re having a really hard time changing the DNA of their company," he said, without explicitly mentioning the name "Facebook." "And the DNA of their company is all about having people compete with each other online for attention.”
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Snap's CEO also made it clear he's not impressed with Zuckerberg's recent "dorm room defense," which seems to crop up every time he's questioned about Facebook's privacy issues. (Time and time again, Zuckerberg has reminded the public and lawmakers that he started Facebook from his Harvard dorm room at a time when he couldn't possibly have anticipated potential issues like privacy scandals and election interference.)
"When it was just us back in my dorm room, we cared about data protection," said Spiegel, who cofounded Snapchat while a student at Stanford.
Topics Facebook Snapchat Social Media
Karissa was Mashable's Senior Tech Reporter, and is based in San Francisco. She covers social media platforms, Silicon Valley, and the many ways technology is changing our lives. Her work has also appeared in Wired, Macworld, Popular Mechanics, and The Wirecutter. In her free time, she enjoys snowboarding and watching too many cat videos on Instagram. Follow her on Twitter @karissabe.
