This April Fools’ Day, Snapchat appeared to have some fun of its own. A new filter was made available which turned the snap into a Facebook post that had been liked by a Russian bot.
The Russian-style text was a clear reference to Russian interference on Facebook, during US election in 2016. 50,000 bots on Facebook were used to influence the US election and they all had links to the Russian government. It seems like Snapchat isn’t holding back at all.
The Cyrillic writing on the filter shows a Russian bot to have liked your post. The Verge has suggested that this April Fools’ Day joke is a message to Facebook, in that they won’t stop sending obvious messages to their biggest competitor.
It is quite clear to us that Facebook has taken a lot of features from Snapchat. Facebook now has stories, face filters and even messaging streaks. All social media seems to be becoming the same, doesn’t it? Well, Evan Spiegel, Snapchat CEO, has already shown his frustration with Facebook, long before this April Fools’ Day.
Along with the Russian jab at Facebook, Snapchat has also took a stab at Facebook’s audience. The April Fools’ Day filter also shows ‘your mum’ to have liked the post. This is probably due to Facebook’s older audience. While Snapchat’s main users are young in comparison.
See talk of the filter on Twitter
Omg the Snapchat April Fool’s filter pic.twitter.com/moiufUQufT
— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) 1 April 2018
Snapchat really have got people talking this April Fools’ Day. We can always rely on Snapchat to pull it out of the bag.
