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Snapchat Stock Drops After Rihanna Rips An Ad For Trivializing Domestic Abuse

Snap Inc. stock plummeted after pop star Rihanna publicly ripped an ad on the SnapChat app for trivializing domestic abuse.

The stock closed at $17.20 a near 4% dip for the day and it hasn’t been good lately for the app after a brand new version of the popular social media platform, which included a game called ‘Would Your Rather’, was met with customer protests.

The game asked if people would “rather slap Rihanna or punch Chris Brown”, and the pop star responded:

“Now SNAPCHAT I know you already know you ain’t my fav app out there! But I’m just trying to figure out what the point was with this mess! I’d love to call it ignorance, but I know you ain’t that dumb! You spent money to animate something that would intentionally bring shame to DV victims and made a joke of it!!!! Rihanna wrote in an Instagram post. “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! Shame on you. Throw the whole app-oligy away.”

Snap eventually issued an apology, calling the ad “disgusting”, which violates Snap’s advertising guidelines, and also saying that it should never have been on the app in the first place. The advertiser has been blocked from the platform.

“We are so sorry we made the terrible mistake of allowing it through our review process,” Snap said in a statement to Deadline. “We are investigating how that happened so that we can make sure it never happens again.”

Snap pointed to Cindy Southworth, executive vice president of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, in saying that it supports work to prevent domestic abuse. Southworth serves on its safety advisory board.

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