Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel said Wednesday that he was “angry” and “devastated” at the information leaked about his disappearing messaging app as a result of the Sony hack.
Good chunks of Snapchat’s business plans were revealed Tuesday when the cyberattackers that hit Sony dumped Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton’s email catalogue.
Lynton sits on Snapchat’s board of directors and had numerous candid email exchanges with Spiegel about hiring practices, possible acquisitions and potential future products.
{mosads}“I felt like I was going to cry all morning,” said Spiegel in a letter sent to Snapchat staff that he later shared on Twitter.
Spiegel defended his company’s right to keeping its blueprint private.
“We keep secrets because we get to do our work free from judgement — until we’re ready to share it,” he wrote. “We keep secrets because keeping secrets gives you space to change your mind until you’re really sure you’re right.”
The emails revealed Snapchat had quietly purchased a company making a Google Glass competitor and is thinking of how to integrate music into the app.
Snapchat has always pitched itself as a privacy-focused app, claiming all user messages disappear after a few seconds and are not stored anywhere. But the three-year-old company has gotten itself in hot water with federal regulators for its own privacy violations.
The Federal Trade Commission earlier this year settled with Snapchat over allegations the company had deceived customers about how it collected, shared and stored user data.
Still, Snapchat continued to double down on its privacy focus. Spiegel insisted Wednesday it will continue to do so.
“We care about taking the time to get things right,” he wrote. “Secrets help us do that. Secrets keep the space between our community and the public — space that we need to feel safe in our expression and creativity.”
Spiegel continued, “It’s not fair that people get to take away all the hard work we’ve done to surprise our community, family, and friends.”