Snapchat has settled with the Federal Trade Commission over charges the company was deceiving customers, as well as failing to protect customer data and misrepresenting the app to consumers. According to Tom’s Guide (via The Loop), the company agreed to two decades of monitoring by the regulatory agency.
One of the appealing features of photo messaging app Snapchat is that the photo is temporary; after a short period of time the image disappears, or at least, that’s what people thought until the FTC got involved. Some of the FTC charges were related to a security hole discovered earlier this year that disclosed over 4 million Snapchat accounts.
Snapchat has settled with the FTC, which means it doesn’t officially admit any wrongdoing or pay any fines, but will be monitored for privacy and security by an independent party for the next 20 years.