Can Snapchat users opt out of having photos shared with authorities

A claim spreading on social media claims that Snapchat is now legally authorized to provide evidence to authorities if requested, but users can opt out of this by tagging “teamsnapchat”.

FALSE

The rumours seem to have been fueled by a screenshot of a tweet apparently made by “Team Snapchat” on Twitter, which began to circulate during 2019. An example is below.

We at Snapchat are now Legally authorized to give photos and other evidence associated with an open court case if requested by legal authorities. If you wish to opt. out of this option tag @teamsnapchat on your snap story so that we know who wish to be left out of our option panel. Deadline is September 5th. Happy Snapping
– Team Snapchat

The message is very reminiscent of the Facebook privacy message hoax which also claimed you could protect yourself from a legal standpoint by performing some arbitrary action on the respective social media platform.

In that case, it was posting some legal sounding jargon onto your Facebook timeline, while this hoax claims you can protect yourself by tagging a Snapchat account.

Of course, this is completely fake. Firstly, the above tweet allegedly from Snapchat is not real. It exists only as a screenshot, and the actual tweet itself doesn’t exist. The above screenshot shows a verified “Team Snapchat” Twitter account, but in reality the Twitter account for Snapchat just reads “Snapchat”. Additionally, on the real Snapchat Twitter account, the S is capitalised in the username, but it is not capitalised in the fake screenshot.

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But perhaps most tellingly is that social media users cannot simply make themselves immune to legal consequences of their online actions, simply be performing arbitrary actions on a social media platform. Snapchat – like most social media companies – state that they will comply with legitimate legal processes that request user data – such as subpoenas – in their law enforcement guide.

The SCA mandates that we disclose certain user data to law enforcement only in response to specific types of legal process, including subpoenas, court orders, and search warrants.

Unsurprisingly, the law enforcement guide does not describe any “get-out” caveat that involves tagging an account or passing on any sort of message.

As such, we rank this claim false.