Snapchat has announced on Thursday that it is removing a controversial speed filter that was introduced in 2013 from its app to enable users to share how fast they are moving. Safety campaigners have claimed it encourages reckless driving.
A spokesperson for the company stated that nothing is more important than the safety of the Snapchat community and that the filter had previously been disabled at driving speed.
"Today the sticker is barely used by Snapchatters, and in light of that, we are removing it altogether."
Over the years, the filter has been attached to various car crashes including some fatal accidents. The parents of three teenagers who died in a 2017 high-speed Wisconsin crash filed a lawsuit against Snap. In the moments before the crash, one of the boys posted a snap that used the speed filter, as the Electronic Frontier Foundation noted.
Last month, an appeals court allowed the case to proceed, ruling that Snap wasn't protected from liability under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act 1996. That provision typically protects internet companies from being held accountable for what their users post. Snap claims the filter didn't cause the crash, and this week it filed a motion to dismiss the case.
Before removing the speed filter, Snap made several tweaks. The filter was changed to a sticker to make it less prominent and a "Don't Snap and drive" appeared whenever someone used it. In the months before deciding to remove the sticker entirely, Snap limited the top speed that could be captured and shared to 35MPH.
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