“India is a poor country.”
These words became viral over the weekend and resulted in an outpouring of anger and appeals to nationalism that swept up, seemingly, the whole internet.
A Snapchat employee alleged in a news blog that Snapchat CEO, Evan Spiegel, made a comment in bad taste regarding India when he was told about the app’s slow growth in Indian market. According to the employee, Spiegel said that India was a poor country and his app was only for the rich.
This comment infuriated Indians and led to an organized online protest which culminated in hashtags, petitions, the Snapchat app being uninstalled enmasse and brigaded with thousands (if not millions) of 1-Star rating at the Play Store and the Apple App Store.
In fact, Snapchat has an average 1-star rating on Apple’s local app store right now.
Dear @evanspiegel India is not poor, but your mentality is. Wish you speedy recovery get well soon @Snapchat #BoycottSnapchat pic.twitter.com/4hxr4CV6xo
— Sir Bumraaah! (@Ibleed_sarcasm) April 15, 2017
So Acc to Snapchat CEO My India ?? is a Poor Country. Now Mr Evan Spiegel You will turn into Millionaire from Billionaire #uninstallsnapchat
— Anmol Katiyar ?? (@Anmol_77) April 15, 2017
Okay I’m offended by ‘India is a poor country!’ by Snapchat’s CEO. Now I’ll take pictures from Snapchat & upload on my Instagram story.
— Reva ? (@BrushUrTeeth_03) April 15, 2017
Snapchat refuted the statement and revealed that the employee who made the allegation, Anthony Pompliano, was fired three weeks prior due to poor performance and is also involved in an active lawsuit with the company. “This is ridiculous. Obviously Snapchat is for everyone! It’s available worldwide to download for free,” said a Snapchat spokesperson.
But, as always, Indians reacted immediately without even considering the name. Unfortunately for an Indian e-commerce store, Snapdeal, it’s name similarity with Snapchat meant it had to face the brunt of the ‘protest’ alongside it.
Indians couldn’t differentiate between Snapchat and Snapdeal, and left 1-star reviews for Snapdeal and calling out its CEO for shaming their country.
Meanwhile, The innocent child got some punishment due to his twin brother. #boycottsnapchat #Snapchat #Snapdeal pic.twitter.com/trFmlPYHJW
— Virat Kohli (@TedhiBaat_) April 16, 2017
Meanwhile in Playstore. Snapdeal is collateral damage. https://t.co/KXSOR1tqYW pic.twitter.com/DqRzNUXV02
— Reddit India (@redditindia) April 16, 2017
#boycottscreenshots pic.twitter.com/vpzItos6Z2
— Rofl Gandhi (@RoflGandhi_) April 16, 2017
Some Indian dumbasses are rating SnapDeal app 1 star instead of SnapChat. #BMKJ pic.twitter.com/ZcXiFqNCRU
— Madhu Menon (@madmanweb) April 16, 2017
This isn’t the first time Snapdeal has suffered the wrath of Indian netizens. In 2015, when the company’s brand ambassador, Aamir Khan, said that he felt India was no longer secure and he wanted to leave the country, Indians organized a massive online protest against Snapdeal even though the company had no relation to the actor’s comments. After investing millions of dollars in the Indian market, the online retailer must be shocked as to why it keeps getting bashed whenever Indians feel insecure.
All is not lost though. While most Indians have been taking out their anger on Snapchat and the unfortunate Snapdeal, some have tried to talk some sense into their fellow countrymen explaining that even if the comment was true, it wasn’t from Snapdeal’s poor CEO.
People boycotting snapdeal thinking it’s Snapchat is more insulting for India than someone calling India poor. #boycottsnapchat #MIvGL
— Virender Sehwag (@VirenderSehweg) April 16, 2017
Majority of Indians instead of deleting and giving 1 star rating to @Snapchat started to delete @snapdeal ?
What. A. Nation. pic.twitter.com/60i3xfEAb1
— عادل (@aurAdil) April 16, 2017
Boycotting Snapdeal instead of Snapchat is the equivalent of slapping Arbaaz Khan because you’re angry with Roger Federer.
— Sahil Shah (@SahilBulla) April 16, 2017
Snapdeal always suffers, first because of aamir khan and now this Snapchat. I feel pity for them ??
— Anoop (@BeerChilled) April 16, 2017
There is lot of difference between snapdeal and snapchat…..
wake up guys pic.twitter.com/yOzIlzVyOZ— ashok randy ? (@itsashrandy) April 16, 2017
Image Source: The News Minute
They call them educated. Bhai Lanat hai apki education jb apko pta hi na chalay ke SnapDeal or Snapchat me kya farq hai
This is a clear case of how people don’t do any research to find the truth, and act blindly.
Don’t sweat it brother. Pakistan is no different. Same or worse ignorants are also here.
Janab, lanat border say udhar bhaijnay say pehlay apnay mardan ki education bhi check kar lain.
we are no different then them
Actually we are nothing like them — if you feel we are no different than them, then perhaps that is more a reflection of you than our nation. If even what the Quaid-e-azam said has no meaning for kids like you, than the future of this nation is indeed bleak. But I do not blame you Usama.
I blame your parents who never had the time to educate you about he differences of Pakistanis and Indians. Even Indian Muslims are nothing like us.
Masha’Allah you are a BSCS graduate of University of Management and Technology, and now work as a software engineer in Berlin with Bonnyprints — I expect better from such educated youth of Pakistan than you.
Please, when you have time, read about the history of Pakistan and educate yourself on WHY we created Pakistan for you guys, our youth and future generations.
Ask the Muslims and minorities like Christians and Sikhs in India what it feels like not to be able to enjoy a steak, or not to be able to even celebrate eid — not to be able to even get a seat to be able to go to university or get any opportunity at jobs — you have been blessed with a degree my boy, but not with an education it seems.
And that indeed is sad.
You deserve a standing ovation on doing a in depth research on me. Good for you if you call us a nation. Better do a research on things that happen around you. If you live in Pakistan without electricity or gas and sometimes water. I pay here 40% of my salary in tax, would I be able to do that in Pakistan, thats a question.
My Dear Usama
Actually the salaried class in Pakistan are perhaps a few of the only ones paying taxes, and yes my dear, I paid that much tax as well. And I also got nothing in return. But dear is that a fault of the country or its corrupt leadership?
Paying taxes which are due has nothing to do with saying that the reasons for which we separated our country from India was wrong . . .after we have scarified millions of our elders’ lives and hundreds of thousands of our sisters and mothers were raped and barbarically and systematically made sexual slaves in India.
A gang of foreign paid journalists in the garb of “intellectuals” now-a-days is also trying to confuse younger generation like you that there is no difference between Indians and us — and that partition was a mistake.
These stooges who are paid by India and the west and enjoy “liberal” educated but unschooled and quite illustrate audiences are causing irreparable damage to our nation.
What do you think my dear? Is USA, the most advanced democracy in the world, any better?
How is Trumps running or even winning elections any better than Nawaz or Zardari’s election? How is his putting his children in charge of ministries not the same as Mariam or Hamza or Bilawal running public affairs here?
So if even the best case democratic nations are similar to us — give us time — USA took 300 years to get here after stealing all the locals wealth and land (remember the “locals” were Red Indians, not the European white man) — we have not even received the share of our money from partition from UK yet!
All we need is sincere leadership — and Pakistan will become one of the best countries in the world.
Sitting in Germany and meeting Neo-Nazis should have already enlightened you to that much.
Is a golden cage still not a cage Usama — and is a golden cage better than impoverished freedom?
Perhaps one day you can have an intellectual discussion on that
چل بور نہ کر، بھائ بہت ہی ویلہ ے تُو تو
RIP SNAPDEAL…
Neanderthals…
Indians are not only poor but also illiterate.
Coming from someone living in a country with highest literacy rate /s
Stop being racist. Like, Pakistani people somehow manage to act better in such scenarios.
Ok in this moment what was I supposed to say that india is a richest country and literacy rate is highest in the world.
Don’t make yourself a time pass to others. Than no one will mock u.
You don’t have to say anything because what you already said makes you look like a fool. It’s basically the pot calling the kettle black.
So u must be the son of Einstein.fool f*** off n find some toilet.
As I mentioned above, you are indeed a fool. Continuous replies and attempts at saving your face are unlikely to correct that assertion.
Also, I actually live in Pakistan and do have my own toilet. It is not that big, but then nothing can be bigger than your gaping asshole.
Haha I was on zaheers side because they’re uneducated. But that was a good roast
I don’t need ur side u should take a side n fuc* off.
Hahaha.u might live in Pakistan but when ur grand father came to Pakistan from india his as* needed a cover which Pakistan gave him so stop being Indian and leave ur step father altaf hussain.
N plz don’t tell me u don’t support altaf hussain ur stinky as* tells ur past.
Zaheer I was so happy with your first few comments, becuase if anyone hates Indians, its me.
But your last three comments above were the biggest disappointment for me and unfortunately to Pakistan and Islam.
Do you know what people who sacrifice everything for Islam and migrated to a new city in the name of Islam, penniless and without “cover” (as you mentioned) are called by our dearest and most beloved Prophet (PBUH)? Mohajirs!
Instead of behaving like Ansaars of Madina, your shallowness and hateful speech is more a reflection of Yahoodees, and what they did at the time of Hijra to the Mohajirs.
It is also a reflection of your ignorance from both Pakistan’s history and Islam’s.
So Zaheer, please educate yourself, and look beyond your racial and ethnic glasses — Pakistanis have to learn to be Pakistanis not Pathan, Punjabi, Sindhi, Balochi and Mohajir or whatever more.
People who are so small in their thinking that they cannot imagine anything more than their own clan, family or province, or language, are holding the country back from progress.
And yes Altaf should be hanged — I 100% agree with you — I believe he is a traitor — but what about Asfandiyar? Or Maulana Diesel? or Zardari or Nawaz Shareef ?
Two of the biggest traitors in the country currently are Asfandiyar and
Maulana Diesel who have now been proven to work with RAW and take money
from NDS in Afghanistan. All are non-Mohajirs — the two prime-ministers
who invited India to attack Pakistan, Nawaz and Benazir) were Punjabi
and Sindhi, and the less I say about Bugti the better.
Do you have the courage to then also agree on the rest?
I urge you as a Pakistani to open your heart and your mind, and never brand an entire population becuase of one man — just as I explained will all Pathans be trators becuase of Wali Khan? or Punjabis becuase of Nawaz or Sindhis becuase of Benazir or Bhutto?
NO! NO! NO!
I have beautiful friends who are from KPK, and from Sialkot and from Lahore and from Muzaffarbad and from Sibi, and from Quetta, and from Larkana and from Karachi too . . . they are all beautiful, good people — I never EVER think of where they are from, or where they came from, but WHO they are . . .they are good people no matter where in Pakistan they are from!
Don’t forget, Quaid-e-Azam was also a Mohajir by YOUR definition– I do not regard anyone as anything other than Pakistani.
We are all Pakistanis, and we all must stand together as one Nation.
So Zaheer please NEVER again utter such hateful rubbish — we are all Pakistanis and we should love each other for just that!
Ok my dear?!
Hahhaah
We Pakistanis should give 5 stars to snapchat, so that it can gain some stars and piss Indians more than ever.
i like the idea ;)
you don’t even have enough people who can write with 55% literacy rate so it won’t make a difference bro.
Please don’t go to the path of holier-than-thou, we recently killed a man in a university based on rumors… If snapdeal is as a result of ignorance.. We have to deal with the the same thing..
Hahahaha ?
Waise ab to Snapchat download karna parhe ga ?
??????
Such poorly written aricle. Please hire some grown ups to write articles in your newspaper, 12 year olds aren’t the best for the job.
And pakistanis calling Indians “Poor” makes no sense.Pakistan is poorer than India.
O’REALLY now? I am pretty sure the amount of ‘rich’ people in Pakistan is not less than India. Don’t forget our Automobile industry has seen a lot of growth recently, which should tell you ‘something’ … if you know what i mean.
I don’t know of your automobile industry but Pakistan’s gdp per capita is lower than India and no, pakistan does not have same number of rich people as India, India has the 5th largest number of billionaires while pakistan has like 5 billionaires in the entire country so Pakistan is indeed poorer than India.
Actually my dear Indian commentator, I admire your well trained trail of thoughts. Unfortunately I know better — yes whereas you are right about billionaires and per capita income, but then you’ve probably heard the expression Stats, stats and damned lies.
So let me reflect to you the very same facts you are trying to quote to my lesser colleagues.India indeed has many times the billionaires that Pakistan does. Naturally even if rule of averages were applied for a population of ten times more you should have ten times more billionaires.
But the number of people rotting in poverty in India is many times the whole population of Pakistan — so what does that say? As a percentage of total population, absolute abject poverty percentage is several TIMES more in India than Pakistan.
However, indeed per capita income is higher in India than Pakistan — and this is because of the few billionaires at the top — the r-square value of income distribution for population in Pakistan is much, much lower than India — which means most of the people in India are actually drowning in poverty, but because of the few billionaires at the top the “average” per capita has skewed higher significantly.
Please study all UNESCO and international numbers on poverty in the two countries, and you will see.
And please do not try and fool the masses by your average intellect which may beguile the ordinary folk on both sides of the border, but not those who know better and are better educated and well versed in international economics.
Also perhaps your spending time here rather than on your own country’s websites to alleviate that poverty is an indicator of whose payroll you are on, and why you are here “for work”.
Need I elaborate more thoroughly for the ProPakistani readers.
You are wrong per capital billionaires in India is more than Pakistan too.India has 20 times more billionaires than Pakistan and wealth distribution is a completely different thing and overall life quality of India is better than pakistan. We have way more per capita internet connectivity and exports too,per capita crime rate in India is lower than pakistan and children per women in India is lower than pakistan.India’s literacy rate is 75 % compared to pakistan’s 55%.But definitely both India and pakistan are extremely poor and one of the poorest places in earth but still pakistanis calling Indians poor makes no sense coz pakistan is extremely poor too.
your last sentence made no sense btw.
And I am not trying to fool anybody.The author of this article is definitely a Indian hating kid, Pakistan can’t call India poor when it’s extremely poor and full of terrorism.
maybe that’s why they are called “Indiots”