Snapchat ‘yellowface” filter slammed as offensive

Snapchat released a filter which was meant to be “anime-inspired” but instead has been accused of “yellowface” and continuing racist Asian caricature. “Does Snapchat hire ANY PoC to tell them this stuff is so so stupid?” – the assumption being that a diverse, empowered workforce would stop these gaffes before they happened.

This new issue raises questions yet more questions about the Silicon Valley start-up, which has also been dogged by gender discrimination accusations since its launch as an ephemeral “sexting” app in 2011.

The most entertaining thing about Snapchat is probably playing around with the fun filters, seeing yourself with weird eyes or a butterfly crown.

Snapchat soared to popularity with messages that disappear shortly after being viewed and has been adding features to better compete with mainstream messaging or photo services such as those run by Facebook or Google.

Snapchat’s competitors have all made a show of publishing their own numbers, even when they’re dismal.

Many users took to Twitter on Tuesday to express their dismay. From Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany’s to the way the Long Duck Dong character in 16 Candles was written, stereotypes about Asians have been played out on the big screen for years, and they have now sadly moved to our handheld devices, as one Twitter user shrewdly pointed out. But “I can’t imagine trying to solve a problem where the real metrics, the ones we’re setting our goals against, are obfuscated”.

Hopefully Snapchat will actually think before releasing a filter next time.