How Safe Are Your Snaps? We Find Out What Snapchat’s Latest Privacy Update Means For You

We’re Snapchat addicts. Whether we’re sending no make-up selfies or firing off videos on a night out, there’s something super appealing about being able to share with our friends, while knowing the evidence won’t stick around forever.

Or will it? A few days ago Snapchat updated its privacy settings, sending users into a major tizz about how safe their snaps really are. Thanks to a few vaguely worded clauses, the new terms and conditions seemed to suggest that Snapchat would be stock piling your private snaps, and sharing them at will.

Read the new @Snapchat privacy/legal policies before deciding whether to click yes. Scary stuff in there, kids. pic.twitter.com/RvXMk1JPdn

— Kal Penn (@kalpenn) October 29, 2015

But don’t panic about that morto pic being leaked around the interwebs just yet. Snapchat has since taken to it’s blog to re-explain the update using everyday language. They write, “The Snaps and Chats you send your friends remain as private today as they were before the update.

“Our Privacy Policy continues to say – as it did before – that those messages ‘are automatically deleted from our servers once we detect that they have been viewed or have expired.

“Of course, a recipient can always screenshot or save your Snaps or Chats.

“But the important point is that Snapchat is not – and never has been – stockpiling your private Snaps or Chats.

They continued, “because we continue to delete them from our servers as soon as they’re read, we could not – and do not – share them with advertisers or business partners.

So what does all that mean in plain English? It means Snapchat won’t be storing or sharing your morto pics or messages. They have however updated their right to use user’s names, likeness and voice anywhere in the world “to make it a little easier for friends to find you on Snapchat”. 

In short, your private pics and messages are safe so there’s no need to go deleting your account just yet.

Psst! Love Snapchat as much as we do? Here are our top 10 Irish Snapchat accounts to follow now! 

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