Snapchat apologises for spam on service, matter unrelated to username leak

Snapchat is on an apology spree. After finally apologising for the leak that exposed usernames and partial phone numbers of 4.6 million users, Snapchat has had to say sorry yet again, this time for the sudden surge in spam pictures being sent to users.   In a blog post titled Snap Spam Update, Snapchat has apologised for spammy and unwanted snaps that have been coming users’ way. The team also clarified that the increase in spam snaps was in no way related to the leak that affected millions of Snapchat users over the New Year. Instead, Snapchat says the surge in spam is a “consequence of a quickly growing service”. The service has said that in order to prevent spam from entering the feed, users could choose to adjust their settings to determine who can send them snaps. Snapchat has recommended users turn on the “Only My Friends” option, so no strangers can send unsolicited messages to them.   [caption id=“attachment_208511” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Spammy posts invade Snapchat (Image credit: TimHerrera and Penoch08 on Twitter)[/caption]   Spam on growing services is not exactly a new phenomenon and services like Facebook, Twitter and more recently even Instagram have had to go through spam epidemics. Instagram, last year, on more than one occasion was afflicted by spammy posts that would get innocent users to click on links using images of fruit diets and milkshakes. Weird, but it seemed to work since this problem became a long drawn one.   Snapchat, of course, has not been a stranger to controversies, with the leak of usernames being the crowning moment for the list. The application’s Find Friends feature was behind this leak and the fact that it was in dire need of being patched up was known to the service for months, thanks to a report by Gibson Security, but it neglected to do anything about it.   In retaliation, a group named SnapchatDB ended up leaking rolls of documents online that consisted of not just usernames, but also partial phone numbers of over 4.6 million users. Snapchat apologised to users for the hack as late as last week and finally released an app update, using which fans of the app could delink their phone numbers from their usernames.