In pic: Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel
What Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel said under oath
The case followed a September 2015 crash in Georgia that left Uber driver Wentworth Maynard with a permanent brain injury. Snap settled the lawsuit this month, before jury selection, which was scheduled for November 2, according to a report by Bloomberg Businessweek. Maynard spent 71 days in medical care, including time in an induced coma. Filed in April 2016 in Georgia’s Spalding County State Court, the lawsuit alleged that Snapchat had negligently designed a feature that encouraged dangerous driving. Snap discontinued the feature in 2021.
The filter launched in December 20and warneding against using Snapchat while driving.
His injuries left him unable to work or drive and caused extensive memory loss, according to Businessweek. “From my perspective, Snap was thoughtful about the design and release of the speed filter,” he said. Asked about regrets, Spiegel said Snap was not in use during this particular crash.
Snap has settled a lawsuit over Snapchat’s speed filter. His lawsuit alleged that the feature, which let users display their traveling speed on photos and videos, encouraged the teenage driver who struck his car to accelerate. The confidential agreement ended a decade of litigation, during which chief executive Evan Spiegel defended the filter’s design under oath. Snap disputed that Snapchat was being used when the collision occurred, and the settlement included no admission of liability. Court records Bloomberg reviewed contained customer complaints and internal discussions about distracted driving.