Snapchat loses nearly $1 billion due to offensive ad

[Photo by: Snapchat]

Snapchat has already seen a significant drop in company stock after stars such as Kylie Jenner voiced their complaints about the app's latest updates on social media. Now, after an offensive ad made its way onto the app's interface, pop-icon Rihanna has caused the company to lose nearly $1 billion dollars.

Read more: Snapchat responds to petition against app design update

Earlier this week, Snapchat users began to noticing an ad for a “Would You Rather?” game that asked users if they would rather “slap Rihanna” or “punch Chris Brown.” Though the ad was posted by a third-party, Snapchat had to approve the content in order for it to appear on the app's interface.

Chris Brown pled guilty to assaulting his then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009, so after the ad was noticed by the pop-icon, she took to Instagram to voice her concerns over the app's ill-advised ad.

“You spent money to animate something that would intentionally bring shame to DV victims and made a joke of it,” Rihanna wrote in her Instagram story. “This isn’t about my personal feelings, cause I don’t have much of them…but all the women, children, and men that have been victims of DV in the past and especially the ones who haven’t made it out yet…You let us down!”

The Wall Street Journal noted the drop in the company's stock which dipped 6 percent just days after Rihanna's post. 

“This advertisement is disgusting and never should have appeared on our service,” Snapchat said in a statement. “We are so sorry we made the terrible mistake of allowing it through our review process. We are investigating how that happened so that we can make sure it never happens again.”

The ad has since been taken down but whether Snapchat will be able to recover after another significant dip in stock is unknown. 

Are you still using Snapchat after its latest update? Let us know in the comments below.