Snapchat Loses Almost $1 Billion After Rihanna Called Them Out For Offensive Ad

ICYMI–Snapchat has been under some hot, hot fire–and, not for a good reason. This week, the company ran an ad sponsored by the “Would You Rather” app featured on their social media platform that caused a lot of controversies online. The ad was a “Would You Rather” question that featured both Rihanna and Chris Brown. The choice–

“Would you rather slap Rihanna or punch Chris Brown”

Seeing as Rihanna and Chris Brown were involved in a serious domestic violence case years ago that was covered all over the media, it’s a tasteless and disgusting ad to run on any application. Not only is it in poor taste, but it’s extremely offensive to anyone who is a domestic violence victim and survivor, insinuating that making a joke out of abuse is okay. Many people took to social media to express their anger–including Rihanna herself. The Barbados native told her fans to “drop Snapchat.”

And, it seems as though The Navy has listened.

After Rihanna’s response and the situation went viral online, Snapchat’s stock dropped 5%, costing them almost $1 billion. This isn’t the first time that the app has had some issues with celebrities and their stocks. Just this year, Kylie Jenner decided that she was going to “stop using Snapchat altogether” and their stock dropped 7% the very next morning. However, Jenner has been actively using the app again, leaving fans to believe Snapchat has “paid her” to continue with them.

Snapchat has since issued a statement apologizing for the ad saying:

“This advertisement is disgusting and never should have appeared on our service. We are so sorry we made the terrible mistake of allowing it through our review process. We are investigating how that happened so that we can make sure it never happens again.”

Looks like RiRi–and fans–aren’t buying it.