FTC: Snapchat deceived customers

NEW YORK (AP) — Snapchat has agreed to settle with the Federal Trade Commission over charges that it deceived customers about the disappearing nature of messages sent through its service and collected users’ contacts without telling them or asking permission.

Snapchat is a popular mobile messaging app that lets people send photos, videos and messages that disappear in a few seconds. But the FTC says Snapchat misled users about its data collection methods and failed to tell users that others could save their messages without their knowledge.

Snapchat has said that it notifies users when a recipient takes a screenshot of a “snap” they’ve sent. But the FTC said recipients with an Apple device that runs an operating system that predates iOS 7 could evade the app’s screenshot detection. Apple’s iOS7 launched last summer.

In addition, the FTC said Snapchat’s app stored video snaps that were not encrypted on the recipient’s device. The videos remained accessible to the recipient, the agency said. A user could access a video message, even after it supposedly disappeared, if the user simply connected the phone to a computer and accessed the video in the device’s file directory.