Snapchat has announced that it will no longer users to access its popular speed filter. The decision was seemingly sparked by a number of lawsuits filed against Snapchat that were tied to the feature.
In 2015, an 18-year-old driver Christal McGee was accused of speeding in order to capture himself going at a high speed on the app’s filter. As McGee was driving at approximately 100 miles per hour, he failed to notice another driver pulling on the highway. Unfortunately, McGee struck the driver while moving nearly 50 miles per hour above the speed limit.
Months later, McGee’s use of the app was cited in a lawsuit. The judge presiding over the case ruled that the social media app could be sued for cases such as these.
“Snapchat’s speed filter facilitated McGee’s excessive speeding. McGee was motivated to drive at an excessive speed in order to obtain recognition through Snapchat by the means of a Snapchat ‘trophy,'” the legal complaint against Snapchat stated.
Two years later, a car crash in Georgia led to a similar ruling in the same court. Ultimately, Snapchat removed the filter.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our Snapchat community, and we had previously disabled the filter at driving speeds,” a company spokesperson told The Verge.
Today the sticker is barely used by Snapchatters, and in light of that, we are removing it altogether.”
