Snapchat CEO Won't Say Sorry for Hack
[There was a video here]
The $3 billion boy, Evan Spiegel, had a very good New Year's Eve. He allegedly partied at a lavish L.A. company fete with Taylor Swift and coworkers, looking back on a meteoric 2013. His millions of users, however, had their phone numbers stolen—and so far, he doesn't think he owes anyone an apology.
In an interview with Carson Daly (what a world!), Spiegel gives a brief overview of the hack. "Technology businesses in general are susceptible to hacking, and that's why you have to work really, really hard...The key is striking a balance between providing [the] utility of a friend service and preventing abuse, and that is something we are always working on." Saying Well it's hard for anyone to do this kind of thing! is what's typically called a non-apology. Evan: you're allowed to say sorry. Do you know how many times Mark Zuckerberg has admitted he fucked something up with Facebook?
Spiegel concludes, with a laugh and slight grin, with the following:
"I believe at the time we thought we had done enough. But I think in a business like this and a business that is moving so quickly, if you spend your time looking backwards, you're just going to kill yourself."
Yes, accountability is stressful, after you've postured yourself as one of the most overvalued tech companies of our modern era! Dan Primack of Fortune breaks it down well:
- 1. Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel must be fired
or- 2. Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel must fire whoever is advising him not to apologize for this mess
The first absolutely won't happen, and number two won't solve the real problem: Evan Spiegel. It's one thing to play steely sociopath with your best friend during a deposition—but you can't treat millions of app users like some frat friend you screwed at Stanford.
Photo: Getty