Tuesday, 11th September 2018
Snapchat is a mobile messaging application used to share photos, videos, text and drawings. Since its launch in 2011, Snapchat has undergone many changes and updates. However, there is one feature that stands out from other forms of texting and photo sharing platforms: the content disappears from the recipient’s phone after a set time limit has expired.
Although Snapchat was originally focused on private, person-to-person photo sharing and messaging, you can now use it for a range of different tasks, including sending short videos, live video chatting and calling, creating Bitmoji avatars and sharing photos and videos via chronological 24 hour “Story” that is broadcasted to all your friends and followers.
There is even a designated “Discovery” area within the application that showcases content from major publishers like Buzzfeed, Cosmopolitan, Dailymail and People for example. This also includes popular and trending live stories from famous celebrities and social media personalities. Snapchat also recently added a “Memories” feature, that enables you to save snaps and videos to a private storage area on your device. Users also have the option to hide photos imported to Memories by moving them to the “My eyes only” folder which is password protected.
At the beginning, Snaps could be timed by the sender, to play only for a maximum of 10 seconds, after which the snap or video disappeared. Now, snaps can be viewed for an infinite period of time, if the user sets the timer on their snap or video to “No limit”. Snaps can also be replayed. However, these snaps and videos will be deleted after the receiver taps to close out of the chat. It should be duly noted that despite the timer option, users can still take screenshots or take a picture of the screen with another camera. Even though Snapchat tries to notify the person that a screenshot has been captured, users must be careful about what they send.
When it comes to chatting one-on-one with someone, chats too are deleted by default once you’ve both leave the chat. However, if you wish to save something important, you can tap on it once and do so. The “Unsend” feature on Snapchat now allows you to delete something you have sent, even if it has been saved. In addition, Snapchat allows you to block users, report inappropriate content and customize/personalize your settings so that you can control who can see your “Story” and who can send you messages for example.
The ‘Nudes’ Culture in Sri Lanka
With the introduction of advanced technology, the exchange of ‘nudes’ or intimate photographs and videos has been made easier, more confidential and more frequent.
The ‘nudes’ culture is becoming a common practice among the Sri Lankan youth as this exchange of naked images is also perceived as an exchange of love and trust. There is an understanding that sending nudes to one’s partner increases the intimacy of the relationship. This exchange of images is further reinforced by the fact that most teens in Sri Lanka do not have the opportunity or freedom engage in sexual activity with their partners due to cultural and family restrictions.
Unfortunately, in some cases these images do not remain with the party to whom they are sent, they are used to blackmail the sender and in many cases are shared widely through social media without their consent, often ending up on pornographic websites.
This issue has been termed by bakamoono.lk as ‘Cyber Exploitaion and Violence’ and is defined as: “when someone is bullied, blackmailed, threatened, discriminated, and/or coerced, online. This includes the non-consensual distribution or publication of intimate photos or videos online, as well as any other material via memes, and edited images. Terms such as Revenge Porn, Girlfriend Porn, Collecting and Exchanging Nudes, Slut Shaming, may also be forms of CEV”
For more information on CEV please click here
Snapchat and Nudes
The use of Snapchat as a medium for the exchange of nudes is seen to be very popular. The use of Snapchat to send nudes has been employed because the sender has the ability to control the amount of time for which the nude can be viewed. Due to this privilege of the “timer”, the sender doesn’t have to fear that their pictures would be stolen or shared without consent. It is believed to be a safer platform to share nudes.
Regarding Snapchat and sharing of such images and videos, the act of giving consent seems generally to mean that the sender and the receiver are expected to abide by some rules such as “no screenshots”, “no sharing”, etc. Teenagers for example prefer to send nudes on Snapchat because they believe that it is safer than Messenger or Whatsapp, where the image would be saved in one’s gallery as opposed to Snapchat, where it is saved on the Snapchat server. It is also believed that Snapchat is used for this exchange, when the notion of ‘trust’ is questionable in the relationship. In other words, it is presumed that individuals who are confident about their partner not misusing these images would use an application such as WhatsApp to share these images instead of something temporary as Snapchat.
However, despite this faith in Snapchat and its ‘safe’ features, over the past few years, perpetrators of cyber violence and exploitation have figured out loopholes to misuse these nudes.
Initially, individuals used an app named ‘Snap Saver’ to make sure that the notification will not be sent when a screenshot is taken of the nude. Once Snapchat caught up this technology, the perpetrators simply turned off their mobile data. It was found that putting the phone on ‘flight mode’ before taking a screenshot will ensure that the sender will not be alerted with a notification. Even though Snapchat caught up with this loophole as well, it is important to notice that many screen-recording apps that are freely available online do enable individuals to take screenshots of these private images without the consent of the sender.
This retrieved data may be violated by either sharing or selling them online. This shows that like many social media applications one cannot rely on Snapchat as a safe mode for this exchange of images. It is imperative that conversations around consent, respect and trust are had with young people, and we are aware of what their modes of communication are.
About the Author: Melani Kingsleypillia was an Intern with The Grassrooted Trust from June to August 2018. She completed her Advanced Level examinations in June 2018 and is currently perusing higher studies in Sri Lanka