For most of us, Snapchat seems like a very inviting space on which to do things we wouldn’t normally. While most other social media platforms revolve around the concept of permanence, Snapchat thrives on the impermanent nature of its content - 10 seconds for individual snaps and 24 hours on a story.

Sending something that you wouldn’t usually send using another platform somehow seems a lot easier - after all, it’s only for 10 seconds. What many are finding is that 10 seconds really lasts for a lot longer than just that. It lasts forever. And suddenly it’s on someone else’s phone. Even without taking a screenshot, it is possible through other third party apps to save snaps without the sender’s consent or knowledge. This has led to a wildfire of blogs, tumblr accounts and Facebook pages dedicated to collecting such pictures and the victims of this type of cyber exploitation are largely women.  

Sri Lanka in particular is experiencing a huge increase in incidents where nude photographs are shared and the country lacks the adequate legislation to protect victims. There exists the Obscene Publications Ordinance which makes it a punishable offence to produce, possess, import, convey, export, carry on, take part in a business, deal with, distribute, exhibit publicly or advertise dealings with obscene material. However, due to the huge stigma associated with crimes of this nature, reporting remains low with less than 10 cases having been reported to date. 

Furthermore, what many do not realise is that Snapchat itself has broadened the scope of what it can do with users’ photos in comparison to Snapchat’s old privacy policy – ‘Delete is our default.’ With the new privacy policy, users grant Snapchat  ‘a worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable license  to : host, store, use, display, reproduce, modify, adapt, edit, publish, create derivative works from, publicly perform, broadcast, distribute, syndicate, promote, exhibit, and publicly display that content in any form and in any and all media or distribution methods (now known or later developed).’ This means that the company does not share photos with advertisers but agreeing to the privacy policy allows it to, should it want to. 

So how do you use Snapchat? And is it time to revise with whom you interact with on the app?

Snapchat Guidelines

Be thoughtful about what you Snap and whom you send it to. It’s okay with us if someone takes a screenshot, but we can’t speak for you or your friends. Snapchat attempts to detect screenshots and notify the sender, but it doesn’t always work perfectly - and your friend can always capture the image with a camera.

Keep it legal. Don’t use Snapchat for any illegal shenanigans and if you’re under 18 or are Snapping with someone who might be: keep your clothes on!

 

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Hans Billimoria, The Grassrooted Trust

"When it comes to protecting yourself and learning how to negotiate a relationship, we need to balance out the explicit noise online with a sensible approach in the classroom. We need comprehensive, age appropriate and culturally relevant approaches to relationship education if we're to help protect our children both online and in real time. The Ministry of Education and partners like UNESCO, who developed a toolkit for Comprehensive Sexuality Education in 2012, must come together to get this done responsibly, scientifically, and soon."

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Shevon Jaysinghe

"Although I don’t use Snapchat to sext, I know people who do. Luckily, there were no negative consequences but stories of snaps that were not meant to be taken a screenshot of but were are not rare. I think you should be able to use Snapchat as you want to but always remain aware of the dangers associated with that kind of freedom."

Uvin Gunasekara

Taking a picture which your parents probably wouldn’t want you to  take in this decade is almost inevitable. Snapchat is a way which it doesn’t last for long and a way in which you can rest peacefully knowing that  it isn’t somewhere out there in cyber space. But of course, there is always the chance that it might be and that’s why the youth have to be careful with who they send it to."

 

Text by Upeksha Hettiarachchi