UPDATED 5:56 p.m. ET: A Snapchat spokesperson has corrected TMZ's original report. The NNEDV joined Snapchat's Safety Advisory Board last year.
Read the original story below.
Following the massive backlash to Snapchat’s offensive “Would You Rather?” ad that asked users to choose between slapping Rihanna or punching Chris Brown, Snapchat has reached out to the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) and invited a member to join the app’s board. TMZ reports that a NNEDV representative confirmed the app contacted the network on Thursday.
The NNEDV rep said the role will be to educate Snapchat staff on domestic abuse and what is and isn’t appropriate to post regarding the issue.
Ads on Snapchat must be approved by the app, so the outrage is justified, since it likely passed through multiple people before being published on the app. “The advert was reviewed and approved in error, as it violates our advertising guidelines," Snapchat said in a statement about the incident. "We immediately removed the ad last weekend, once we became aware."
The ad, which was part of an interactive game, was immediately called out by users as insensitive and tone-deaf, made only worse by the former couple’s troubling history of domestic violence. The real condemnation came when Rihanna herself took to her Instagram story to comment on the ad, writing:
When Rihanna speaks, the people listen, and just minutes after she condemned the app for their misguided ad, fans started deleting Snapchat from their phones in solidarity with RiRi. It’s yet another blow to the app that was already struggling after Instagram stole their business model (and arguably improved on it). The app’s stock value declined last month when one of its most loyal users, Kylie Jenner, tweeted that she didn’t even use it anymore—so you can imagine what the reaction will be now that people actually have a reason to avoid the app.