Snapchat maker Snap Inc. is denying that its CEO, Evan Spiegel, once said the app is "only for rich people" and that he doesn't "want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain."
The quote, which Snap is calling "ridiculous," came from a recently unredacted court complaint by Anthony Pompliano, who served as the company's growth lead for a few weeks in 2015. In the complaint, Pompliano recounts the exchange from a September 2015 meeting he had with Spiegel about the app's international growth plans.
Snapchat's app ratings have taken a hit since Variety and a number of other outlets highlighted the alleged quote from Spiegel last week. A deluge of social media posts and one-star reviews in Google and Apple's app stores feature many users voicing their disapproval.
The scale of anger against India is so high in the Valley that many Kashmiris have installed @Snapchat because its CEO 'insulted' poor India â جÛاÙÚ¯Ûر عÙÛ (@Gaamuk) April 16, 2017
I am very poor so uninstalled #snapchat but thanks for entertaining for this many days. @evanspiegel @Snapchat don't mess with India. pic.twitter.com/mlyaMuS9AI â Shreyas Singh (@Shreyas_singh1) April 15, 2017
 "This is ridiculous," a Snap spokesperson told Business Insider and several Indian news outlets on Sunday. "Obviously, Snapchat is for everyone! It's available worldwide to download for free. Those words were written by a disgruntled former employee. We are grateful for our Snapchat community in India and around the world."
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ERRORMONSTER on April 17th, 2017 at 03:24 UTC »
Let me make this clear, since nobody else is. This was a quote from a court complaint by a dude who worked at Snap for a few weeks two years ago.
itsRho on April 16th, 2017 at 22:11 UTC »
Dude looked at how things are going for Uber and said, "yup, I want me some of that"
iamtomorrowman on April 16th, 2017 at 21:36 UTC »
lots of hatred for Spiegel, especially his earlier email leak. his story ticks all the privileged boxes that tilt people hard on the Internet these days.
the fact is, if you have a phone and can afford Spectacles, you are doing better than most people in the history of humanity.
with all that said, i wouldn't be surprised that a 26 year old born in 1990 that just made a few billion off taking his company public could say things like this with a straight face. Steve Jobs said plenty of terrible things (although not racist) during his time too.