Mobile messaging app Snapchat has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it deceived consumers with promises about the disappearing nature of messages sent through the service. The FTC case also alleged that the company deceived consumers over the amount of personal data it collected and the security measures taken to protect that data from misuse and unauthorized disclosure. The case alleged Snapchat’s failure to secure its Find Friends feature resulted in a security breach that enabled attackers to compile a database of 4.6 million Snapchat usernames and phone numbers.

Edith Ramirez (Chairwoman, FTC): If a company markets privacy and security as key selling points in pitching its service to consumers, it is critical that it keep those promises.

Snapchat stored video snaps unencrypted on the recipient’s device in a location outside the app’s ‘sandbox,’ meaning that the videos remained accessible to recipients who simply connected their device to a computer and accessed the video messages through the device’s file directory, says the FTC.

In a blog post, Snapchat said “While we were focused on building, some things didn’t get the attention they could have.” Here is a copy of the text:

When we started building Snapchat, we were focused on developing a unique, fast, and fun way to communicate with photos. We learned a lot during those early days. One of the ways we learned was by making mistakes, acknowledging them, and fixing them.

While we were focused on building, some things didn’t get the attention they could have. One of those was being more precise with how we communicated with the Snapchat community. This morning we entered into a consent decree with the FTC that addresses concerns raised by the commission. Even before today’s consent decree was announced, we had resolved most of those concerns over the past year by improving the wording of our privacy policy, app description, and in-app just-in-time notifications. And we continue to invest heavily in security and countermeasures to prevent abuse.

We are devoted to promoting user privacy and giving Snapchatters control over how and with whom they communicate. That’s something we’ve always taken seriously, and always will.

You can find a copy of FTC’s complaint against Snapchat here.

[Image courtesy: Snapchat]