Snapchat

One company

open protocol: no

move your account and keep your followers: no

hub: Snap Inc.

Snaps, chats and Stories live only on Snap's own servers, and the terms forbid unauthorised third-party apps or building apps that touch the service without Snap's written consent. No account can be moved with its friends to another provider; a data download does not count here.

• Snap Group Limited terms of service (effective 21 Sep 2026), s.8attempt to access the Services through unauthorised third-party applicationsread 28 Sep 2026

Targeted ads · subscriptions

Advertising was 87% of Snap's $5.93bn revenue in 2025 (96% in 2023). 'Other revenue' ($745m) is mainly subscriptions (Snapchat+, Lens+, the ad-free Snapchat Platinum, Memories storage), plus a fee from an unnamed 'AI platform partner' and hardware sales Snap calls not material. Ads are personalised on interests, activity and data from partners and advertisers, except for EU accounts of 13–17-year-olds.

• Snap Inc., annual report 10-K for 2025, risk factorsadvertising revenue accounted for approximately 87%, 91%, and 96% of our total revenue, respectivelyread 28 Sep 2026
• Snap Inc., annual report 10-K for 2025, note 2, other revenueOther revenue primarily consists of revenue from subscriptions, which include Snapchat+, Lens+, and Snapchat Platinum.read 28 Sep 2026
• Snapchat Support, personalisation on Snapchatthe ads that you will see are often driven by what we think are your interestsread 28 Sep 2026
• Snapchat Support, frequently asked questions about the Digital Services Act (advertising)We do not serve personalized advertising to user accounts for 13 - 17 year olds.read 28 Sep 2026

Listed company

control: Snap Inc. (NYSE; the listed Class A shares carry no votes); co-founders Evan Spiegel and Robert Murphy hold over 99% of the votes, Spiegel alone a majority

Class C shares carry ten votes each, Class B one, Class A none; the co-founders' Class C shares give them their control (the 10-K lists two holders of record of Class C, which we read as the co-founders). The 10-K says Spiegel alone may exercise voting control, including over a merger or sale of the company. Snap files no proxy statement because its listed shares have no vote, so the 10-K is the source.

• Snap Inc., annual report 10-K for 2025, risk factors and note on capital stockEvan Spiegel and Robert Murphy, control over 99% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stockread 28 Sep 2026

Ranked, with a non-profiled option

Snapchat opens on the camera; chats are not a feed. Its public content feeds, Spotlight and Discover in the Stories tab, are personalised and ranked by Snap's algorithms. Users in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland can switch personalisation off in Settings, after which content is recommended only on language, age and country.

• Snapchat Support, how we rank content on Spotlight (personalisation controls)you have the option to disable personalized public content recommendations or reset your personalized content feedread 28 Sep 2026
• Snapchat Support, frequently asked questions about the Digital Services ActThis page also explains how you can opt-out of personalized content recommendations.read 28 Sep 2026

The operator

Snap reviews, restricts and removes content and accounts under its Community Guidelines, and says it does not review all content. The terms give users no moderation role beyond reporting and appeals.

• Snap Group Limited terms of service (effective 21 Sep 2026), s.7, content moderationSnap reserves the right to review, moderate or remove all content that appears on the Servicesread 28 Sep 2026

Trains its own AI, with an opt-out

a setting or form to opt out: yes

Snap may use publicly posted content (Spotlight, Public Stories, Snap Map) to train its own generative AI content-creation models, and uses My AI conversations to improve My AI. Users can opt out of the public-content use in Settings, though opting out does not undo past training. Snap's terms, privacy policy and help pages do not say it licenses user content to third parties for AI training.

• Snapchat Support, generative AI on Snapchat, how is my content usedto develop, train, and improve Snap’s generative AI content creation modelsread 28 Sep 2026
• Snapchat Support, generative AI on Snapchat, opting outIn Settings, you can opt out of allowing Snap to use your public content for these purposesread 28 Sep 2026
• Snap privacy policy (effective 21 Sep 2026), develop and improve machine learning modelsour algorithms and machine learning models take into account the conversations Snapchatters are having with My AIread 28 Sep 2026

No ID needed

verification: k-ID (Kidentify Pte. Ltd.)

Read off the verification layer, where its sources are.

Closed source

licence: proprietary

Read off the code layer, where its sources are.

95.9M a month in the EU

counted: average monthly active recipients in the EU, as the DSA requires them

period: Jan–Jun 2026

Average monthly active recipients in the EU under DSA Art. 24(2), from the total row of Snap's H1 2026 DSA transparency report (published 31 August 2026). France (28.8m) and Germany (19.5m) are the largest countries.

• Snap, EU DSA transparency report H1 2026read 28 Sep 2026
• Snap, EU DSA transparency report H1 2026, average monthly active recipients (CSV)Number of average monthly active recipients during the reporting periodread 28 Sep 2026