Snapchat says ‘Snap spam’ wasn’t related to data breach

TORONTO – Photo-sharing app Snapchat apologized Monday after some users reported an increase in unwanted posts sent from unknown users over the weekend, igniting concerns about the company’s recent data breach.

“We’ve heard some complaints over the weekend about an increase in Snap Spam on our service. We want to apologize for any unwanted Snaps and let you know our team is working on resolving the issue,” read a post on Snapchat’s blog.

READ MORE: Snapchat rolls out update after breach; apologizes to users

Since many users only allow “Snaps” – photos or videos sent through the app – to be sent by friends and contacts, the increase in “Snap Spam” had some concerned that their information had been collected through the app’s recent data breach, which saw over four million usernames and passwords dumped online.

Though the majority of the leaked phone numbers and usernames were associated with U.S. area codes, there were two area Canadian area codes included in the breach which means some Canadian users may have been affected.

READ MORE: How to check is your Snapchat information was leaked

But, according to Snapchat’s blog post, the increase in spam is unrelated to the hack.

“As far as we know, this is unrelated to the Find Friends issue we experienced over the holidays,” read the blog post.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "As far as we know, this is unrelated to the Find Friends issue we experienced over the holidays," read the blog post.

Snapchat urges users who are concerned about Snap Spam to change their account settings so that only their friends can send them Snaps.

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Users can do this by selecting the settings menu in the top right hand corner of the app and editing the “Who can send me snaps” section to “My friends.”

READ MORE: How to protect yourself from security breaches on social media sites

Snapchat allows users to send pictures and videos that “self-destruct” up to ten seconds after being viewed by the recipient. The app, which is one of the most popular mobile apps among teens and young adults, sees users share over 150 million photos a day.