Snapchat faced another small crisis last week, as antisemitic vandals were able to change New York’s name into “Jewtropolis” on Snap Maps.
Remember that time when someone was able to add a racist GIF to GIPHY, thus making it available on Snapchat and Instagram? Well, that’s the problem when you use third-party services in your app. Snapchat faced another similar issue last week when a user was able to vandalise Mapbox, the mapping data provider for Snap Maps.
The antisemitic user made several attempts to deface Mapbox’s maps, but its systems caught them. However, one change was accidentally accepted by a human reviewer, leading to New York’s name changing to “Jewtropolis.”
Snapchat was able to remove the problem within about an hour, but the change took significantly longer to reach all affected apps. Snapchat isn’t the only app that gets its maps from Mapbox; other apps like The Weather Channel, Citybike and StreetEasy also faced the same problem.
Hey Dan! Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Snap Map relies on third party mapping data which has unfortunately been subject to vandalism. We are working with our partner Mapbox to get this fixed immediately.
— Snapchat Support (@snapchatsupport) August 30, 2018
In a blog post, Mapbox said, “we apologize to customers and users who were exposed to this disgusting attack” and that it will “continue to investigate this act and make appropriate changes to further limit the potential for future human error.”
You might also like
More from Snapchat
Snapchat Introduces Shared Stories
Snapchat shared stories will let users who have been added to custom stories invite their own friends to contribute. Custom Stories …
Snapchat Partners With Ticketmaster To Launch New Events Map Layer
The new Ticketmaster Snap Mini will allow Snapchat users to find nearby events on the map, and tap on them …
Snapchat Introduces New Personal Safety ‘Live Location’ Feature
Snapchat is introducing a new way to keep track of where your friends are by seeing their real-time location on …
Snapchat Will Finally Let You Change Your Silly Old Username
Snapchat will now let you change your old username without compromising aspects of your account, like friends list, Snap codes, …
Snapchat Is Introducing Mid-Roll Ads In Snap Star Stories
Snapchat has announced the beta test of mid-roll ads in Snap Star Stories, a new monetization feature for creators.
Snapchat Unveils New AR Catalog-Powered Shopping Lenses
Snapchat has improved its AR shopping Lens offering by adding new Shopping Lenses that display details about products.
Snapchat Introduces New Emoji Polls, Bitmoji Reactions, And More
Snapchat is updating its app with new tweaks to personalize the in-app experience and make it more fun and engaging.
Snapchat Opens AR Christmas Market With Six Major Retailers
The holiday market will feature AR experiences from Coca-Cola, Hollister, Prime Video, Under Armour, Verizon, and Walmart.
Snapchat Launches New Multi-Format Ad Delivery Option
Snapchat's new "Multiple Formats" delivery option will allow advertisers to combine multiple video ad formats into a single ad set.
