American multimedia instant messaging app and service, Snapchat has moved to disable its contentious “Solar System” function by default after bad press.
Less than a week after The Wall Street Journal published an article on how a Snapchat feature called “solar system” was making teenagers more anxious, the company changed the feature.
Snapchat noted in a statement that it disabled the feature to avoid making the problem worse.
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“We’ve heard and understand that the Solar System can make that feeling worse, and we want to avoid that,” the company announced in a post on its newsroom on Friday.
But unlike when it removed the contentious and dangerous speed filter—for which Snap was sued for “negligent design”—Snapchat is merely turning off the Solar System feature by default. Users of Snapchat+ will still have the choice to enable it if they so desire.
“We hope this strikes the right balance between providing a feature that is desired by many who use it while avoiding upsetting those who don’t want to use it,” the company explains.
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