As communities continue preparing for and responding to the public health crisis posed by COVID-19, we wanted to share an update on our efforts to prioritise the health and safety of our Snapchat community, our partners, our team and the world we all share together.
Our global team is practising social distancing and doing our part in joining the larger public health efforts to help slow the spread of the virus. We are all working together to support our community and our partners as we all navigate this unprecedented challenge together.
Snapchat brings close friends and family together even when they’re apart – and we are grateful for the opportunity to help people stay in touch during this time. We’ve seen increased engagement across our service, and we’re working hard to keep everything running smoothly.
We believe that Snapchatters play a critical role in stopping the spread of the virus. Our community can help by using the full power of technology while physically distancing – whether to communicate with loved ones, play games with friends or stay informed.
Here’s a quick update on some things we've been doing to help:
- We've launched creative tools to help Snapchatters share expert-approved best practices with their friends and family members, including a worldwide Filter with advice to our community on how to stay safe. This information is sourced from the World Health Organization and links to its website for more info.
- We’re working closely with the WHO and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to ensure Snapchatters have all the latest information from the experts themselves. The WHO and CDC publish regular updates for Snapchatters from their Official Accounts, and we’ve worked with the WHO to develop custom content to answer questions from our community.
- In light of the anxiety and stress people are experiencing, we've sped up the launch of a new feature, Here For You, that shows resources from expert localised partners when Snapchatters search for certain topics related to mental health, anxiety, depression, stress, suicidal thoughts, grief and bullying. To respond specifically to coronavirus, we've also added a new section that shows content on anxiety related to COVID-19 being produced by the WHO, CDC, Ad Council and Crisis Text Line.
- We offer trusted content. Our content platform, Discover, is curated, and we work closely with only a select set of partners, including some of the most trusted news organisations around the world. Our guidelines prohibit Snapchatters and our partners from sharing content that deceives or deliberately spreads false information that causes harm, and we do not offer an open news feed where un-vetted publishers or individuals have an opportunity to broadcast misinformation.
- More than three dozen of these partners are producing constant coverage on COVID-19, including NBC News’ “Stay Tuned”, The Washington Post, SkyNews, The Telegraph, Le Monde, VG, Brut India and Sabq.
- Our own news team is also regularly producing coverage and continuously updating Discover with tips and information about COVID-19, including Q&As with medical experts.
This is just the start. We’re all working together to find more ways to support our community. We’re thinking of all of you and sending lots of love during this difficult time.