#UninstallSnapchat: Indian Campaign Slams Snap CEO Evan Spiegel For Alleged 'Poor Countries' Remark Against

Indian users upset over disparaging remarks allegedly made by Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel in 2015 kicked off #UninstallSnapchat and #BoycottSnapchat campaigns on Twitter, urging people to delete the app from their smartphones. The campaign began gathering steam earlier this week soon after the unredacted version of a lawsuit filed by a former employee was made public.

"I did my part, your turn guys. No Indian should have #Snapchat on their phones," one of the tweets said.

The lawsuit, filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court by Anthony Pompliano — who worked at Snapchat for just three weeks — in January, contains remarks attributed to Spiegel, in which he expresses his disinterest in expanding in "poor" countries like India and Spain.

"Data showed that Snapchat’s international user metrics were very low, even in countries with high-levels of social media engagement, such as Spain and India. When Mr. Pompliano attempted to explain that he could implement strategies to achieve significant growth for Snapchat in these major markets, Mr. Spiegel abruptly cut in and said, 'This app is only for rich people. I don’t want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain.' Mr. Spiegel would not entertain any further discussion," the text of the lawsuit read.

Pompliano said the remarks were made during a meeting in September 2015, during which he repeatedly expressed concerns over "false representations" regarding Snapchat's growth and value.

However, Snap — a company known primarily for its short-lived messaging concept — denied that Spiegel had ever made such statements, calling the reports "ridiculous."

"Obviously, Snapchat is for everyone! It's available worldwide to download for free," a Snap spokesperson, whose name was not revealed, told HuffPost India. "Those were the words of a disgruntled former employee. We are grateful for our Snapchat community in India and around the world."

The controversy comes at a vexing time for Snapchat, which reported it had 161 million daily active users ahead of its IPO last month. On Thursday, Facebook's Instagram announced that over 200 million people were now using the Instagram Stories feature every day — suggesting that reports about the adverse impact the Snapchat clone has had on Snap's growth are at least partly true.