PANDER-MONIUM: Snapchat yanks cringeworthy Juneteenth filter that asked users to ‘smile to break chains’

Snapchat has removed a Juneteenth-themed that encouraged users to “smile” to break the chains of slavery, something that was quickly flagged by social media users as an offensive attempt to pander to Black Lives Matter activists.

If users chose to use the filter, they could photograph themselves in front of a Pan-African flag with the words “Juneteenth” and “Freedom Day” captioned. The user was then told to smile as chains appear and then suddenly break, a clear nod to the day being a celebration of the end of slavery in the US. 

The filter was disabled after numerous complaints and removed from the service in the early afternoon.

“We deeply apologize to the members of the Snapchat community who found this Lens offensive,” a spokesperson for the company said. 

The company claims the filter was not approved through their “review process,” despite it being worked on by “a diverse group of Snap team members.”

“Aaaand this is what happens when you don’t have any black people on the product design team. As a Snap alumni, this is extremely embarrassing,” one designer and former employee tweeted. 

Users were still able to upload themselves utilizing the filter, which earned few fans and elicited reactions that Snapchat likely was not expecting with their attempt at a woke feature.

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