Snapchat has decided to disable the thermal ID feature of its Snap Map in Ukraine. The company says this is a security measure.
Some may have adopted this reflex: when an event takes place in the world, Snapchat’s Snap Map allows you to add additional interesting information by viewing amateur content. Useful, but Snap Inc announced the temporary deactivation of the function heat map of Snapchat for Ukraine, the app no longer showing public photos and videos posted from that country.
“As a security measure, we have temporarily disabled the Snap Map public Snaps heatmap in Ukraine”, explains the company on Twitter. Typically, the map is color-coded to indicate the concentration of people posting public images in a specific area. The redder the area, the more content is published. It is therefore not difficult to imagine that the company wishes to protect itself against various misuse of the function: analysis of density zones in order to know the movements of populations, shocking videos, etc.
As a safety precaution we have temporarily disabled the Snap Map’s “heatmap” of public Snaps in Ukraine. We will continue to offer curated Stories comprised of Snaps submitted in Ukraine.
— Snapchat Support (@snapchatsupport) March 5, 2022
By connecting to Snapchat, we can still see that the company has kept a selection of snaps associated with the three major cities of the country: Kiev, Kharkiv and Lviv. Some videos show businesses where food is scarce, others trains crowded with citizens trying to flee combat zones.
Snapchat
Snapchat, a free application available on iOS and Android that allows you to exchange photos and short videos, which have a limited lifespan.
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Release:
11.68.0.37 -
Downloads:
29 -
Release date :
03/03/2022 -
Author :
Snap Inc. -
Licence :
Free license -
Categories:
Hobbies – Communication
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Operating system :
Android, Online service All Internet browsers, iOS iPhone / iPad
Other companies have taken similar steps to make Ukrainians’ movements harder to track, with Google and Apple for example turning off the country’s live traffic information. In a statement released a few days earlier, Snapchat also said it was pausing some financial activities in conflict zones. “We do not have an office in Russia and we have stopped all advertising in Russia, Belarus and Ukrainesays the company. We are stopping advertising sales to all Russian and Belarusian entities and complying with all sanctions.”