Snapchat has risen in popularity over recent years, and while promising secure image and video messaging between individuals, has seen its fair share of controversy. A unique trait of the app since its conception has been the ability to send messages with a short lifespan, and make them disappear after a single viewing. As intended, this results let many users feel more relaxed with the content they share, due to the notion that the image will never appear again.

The concept has never been fully implemented, despite the company's efforts to assure consumers that images are deleted after a short period of time. In the latest update to the app, Snapchat has now introduced a reworked privacy policy and terms of service, giving firm rights to photos sent through the application.

As a user of the service, you give Snapchat the right 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).

With this new policy, Snapchat is now able to use content sent through the app to promote its service, and distribute it among the public. While it is unclear how future plans have shaped this policy, this still shows a change in stance, in regards to user privacy.

The service has previously been targeted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), after being accused of deceiving customers, by stating that images sent through the app would "disappear forever". The FTC found that images could easily be extracted from the service and saved, regardless of their expiry stamp. Since a range of accusations, Snapchat's strategy has seen a drastic change, most recently allowing users to pay to view content for a second time.

Source: Snapchat via Quartz