Snapchat's App Rating Takes A Massive Hit On Play Store Thanks To 'Poor Indians', Spokesperson Issues Clarification

It wasn¡¯t a great Sunday for Snapchat, just a day after news broke that company CEO Evan Spiegel had allegedly shown disinterest in expanding the social app¡¯s business in ¡°poor countries¡± like India.

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Now, the company¡¯s facing backlash in the form of Snapchat¡¯s app rating dropping down to as low as ¡°one star¡± in recent reviews left by users on Google¡¯s Play Store.

According to the app info on the app store, the "Customer Ratings" of the current version of the app was "single star" (based on 6,099 ratings) and all versions rating was "one and half star" (based on 9,527 ratings) as on Sunday morning. The rating for the app on Android Play Store was "four star" (based on 11,932,996 ratings).

Snapchat Rating on Google Play Store

Snapchat Rating on Google Play Store

Online users turned on Snapchat as soon as a report from US-based news website Variety on Saturday quoted Snapchat's ex-employee Anthony Pompliano as saying that company CEO Evan Spiegel in September 2015 told him that "the app is only for rich people. I don't want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain".

As expected, this got a lot of Indians angry and many took to social media to lash out at the alleged statement from the Snapchat CEO. As the ratings of the app dropped, the criticism of the CEO and the app increased.

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The app was also trolled on Twitter. #boycottsnapchat became the most trending hashtag on Twitter overnight. Snapchat has more than four million users in India.

Snapchat responds to online criticism and the alleged insensitive comments

Following the controversy and massive outrage online Snapchat said the employee who made the claim and quoted by the original report by Variety, Anthony Pompliano, was "fired for poor performance," three weeks ago and has been involved in a lawsuit with the company.

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"This is ridiculous. Obviously, Snapchat is for everyone! It's available worldwide to download for free," an international spokesperson of Snap said in a statement. "Those words were written by a disgruntled former employee. We are grateful for our Snapchat community in India and around the world," the statement added.

Too little too late?

With inputs from ET