Snapchat CEO called India 'a poor country' and now Indians are boycotting the app

Photo-sharing app Snapchat came under fire after its CEO Evan Spiegel allegedly said the app was only for rich people and doesn't "want to expand in countries into poor countries like India and Spain." Snap Inc is now trying to regain lost ground denying, its CEO has made such a statement.

The quote came from a recently unredacted court complaint by Anthony Pompliano, who served as the company's growth lead for a few weeks in 2015. The former employee mentioned the exchange from a September 2015 meeting he had with Spiegel about the app's international growth plans.

In an attempt to mitigate the damage, a Snap spokesperson called Pompliano claim "ridiculous". "Obviously, Snapchat is for everyone! It's available worldwide to download for free. Those words were written by a disgruntled former employee. We are grateful for our Snapchat community in India and around the world," he added.

However, it seems that the statement is not helping the company much. Since Spiegel's alleged statement was highlighted by Variety and other news outlets, it has caused uproar amongst the Indian populace who are now boycotting the app. Snapchats ratings have also taken a hit after people started uninstalling the app and giving it one-star ratings on the Google Play Store and the App Store. Many Indian took to Twitter to show their anger with photo sharing platform. Some even shared the images of themselves uninstalling the app from their smartphones with the #boycottSnapchat.