Chrissy Teigen is known in some circles online as the queen of Twitter, but it doesn’t look as if the model and TV host has any plans to reign over Snapchat anytime soon. The soon-to-be-mother-of-two tweeted that she was leaving Snapchat on Sunday, partly because of the company’s decision to make light of Rihanna’s past as a domestic abuse victim, reports Hello Giggles .
“I stopped using snap. The update, the constant complaints of people not being able to find me, plus the Rihanna poll…no bueno.”
Earlier this month, Snapchat drew the ire of many of Rihanna’s fans when it posted an ad for the game “Would You Rather.” The ad prompted users to choose between slapping Rihanna and punching Chris Brown. Given the former couple’s tumultuous history — Chris Brown physically assaulted Rihanna in 2009 — users were outraged over what Chris Brown’s lawyer called a “tone deaf” ad.
Snapchat almost immediately took the ad down and apologized, but the damage had already been done. Many users, who were already upset with the company’s latest update, felt that the insensitive Rihanna ad was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Rihanna, too, agreed. The star took to social media to express her disapproval over the ad.
In a calculated move, the pop star utilized Instagram’s story feature, which is a direct rival of Snapchat, to post her scathing response to the whole situation. Rihanna started out by saying that Snapchat already wasn’t her favorite app, but that this situation decreased her respect for it even more. She then called Snapchat dumb for spending money to animate the ad, which she felt was a slap in the face to domestic abuse victims. She ended her rant by saying, “Throw the whole app-ology away.”
Soon after, many Snapchat users declared that they were going to delete their accounts. Snapchat immediately felt the effects of having such a high-profile user condemn them, as they lost $800 million in market value in the span of 24 hours.
Rihanna’s response came just a few weeks after Kylie Jenner publicly criticized the app. After Snapchat’s latest update left users’ dashboard a confusing mess, Kylie Jenner publicly expressed her displeasure with the new look and feel of the app.
sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me… ugh this is so sad.
— Kylie Jenner (@KylieJenner) February 21, 2018
Like Rihanna, Kylie Jenner’s criticism also contributed to Snapchat losing money. In the case of her tweet, the company lost an estimated $1.3 billion .
Chrissy Teigen broadcasting her decision to leave probably won’t help the already struggling app gain back its users’ trust, but given that her social media numbers pale in comparison to both Rihanna and Kylie Jenner, her decision may not affect Snapchat as harshly. Only time will tell.
Chrissy Teigen Says She Stopped Using Snapchat After Rihanna Scandal https://t.co/uh8pV0dnGi
— People (@people) March 24, 2018