Multimedia messaging app Snapchat lost nearly $1.5 billion in a single day after singer Rihanna called out Snapchat for an advertisement that made light of domestic violence.
Rihanna herself is a victim of violence. In 2009, she was physically abused by her then boyfriend Chris Brown.
Although Snapchat deleted the ad after it received immediate backlash from celebrities including Chelsea Clinton, Rihanna wasn't in a mood to forgive and forget. On Thursday morning, Rihanna took to Instagram to criticize the app for making a joke of domestic violence.
"Now snapchat I know you already know you ain't my favourite app out there! But I'm just trying to figure out what the point was with this mess! I'd love to call it ignorance, but I know you ain't that dumb!" she wrote, adding, "You spent money to animate something that would intentionally bring shame to DV victims and made a joke of it!!! This isn't about my personal feelings, cause I don't have much of them…but all the women, children and men that have been victims of DV in the past and especially the ones who haven't made it out yet….you let us down! Shame on you. Throw the whole app-oligy away."
Shortly after Rihanna's comments, shares of Snapchat's parent company Snap Inc. dropped by nearly 5 percent.
Snapchat deleted the ad and issued a statement to BBC apologizing for making an error in judgement. "The advert was reviewed and approved in error, as it violates our advertising guidelines. We immediately removed the ad last weekend, once we became aware. We are sorry that this happened," the statement read.
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