Snapchat has pulled the plug on its controversial speed filter, the company announced.
The filter, which lets users measure the speed a phone is moving and then share it on the app, has been on Snapchat since 2013.
According to a report by NPR, a Snapchat spokesperson said that the speed filter is "barely used" by the users of the app as the reason the company is removing it altogether.
Snapchat Speed Filter Caused Car Accidents: Critics
Snapchat's speed filter has been one of the many filters on the app that have caused an uproar among users and critics.
In particular, the speed is at the center of numerous safety-related controversies since it was first introduced. Critics have alleged that the filter has caused multiple car accidents that resulted in injuries and even deaths. These include:
2016 - A post published on Snapchat showed a passenger using the speed app while taking a video of the driver, Pablo Cortes III, as they traversed along E Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Florida. Their car then slammed into a minivan, which was carrying a mother and her two children. All passengers of the minivan, Cortes, and his passenger all passed away due to the accident. The speed filter registered 115.6 mph.
2017 - Three teenagers died in a car accident in Wisconsin after their car came off the road, hit a tree, and burst into flames. In a lawsuit, the parents of two of the teenagers alleged that the passengers were using Snapchat's speed filter and that the car was moving at 113 mph at the time of the accident.
Related Article: Snapchat is in Danger of a Lawsuit as Users Accuse Platform of Encouraging Reckless Driving Due to Speed Filter
Lawsuits Filed By Victims Against Snapchat
Some of these accidents have led victims and loved ones of the deceased to file lawsuits against Snapchat over their speed app.
In relation to the 2015 accident involving Christal McGee, the driver of the Mitsubishi Outlander sued both her and Snapchat as a result of the accident. The lawsuit alleged that while McGee was to blame for using the app while driving, she wouldn't even have a reason to be using Snapchat at the time of the accident if the filter did not exist to begin with.
As for the 2017 accident, the parents of two of the teenagers who died filed a lawsuit against Snapchat over their negligent design that allowed the speed filter to be included on the app. In a ruling made early this year by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, it was decided by the court that Snapchat should face the lawsuit, according to Reuters.
Read Also: Lawsuit Filed Against Snapchat Over Inappropriate Content Served To Minors Through Discover
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Written by Isabella James
