Rihanna: Snapchat 'joked' about domestic violence

The social media company featured a post asking users if they would rather “slap Rihanna” or “punch Chris Brown”.

Shares in Snap, the owner of Snapchat, fell nearly 4% after the singer’s criticism – which comes after comments last month by Kylie Jenner about the app also put a dent in the stock.

Rihanna was assaulted by singer Chris Brown in his car in 2009 while they were dating. He was convicted over the attack.

In a message posted in an Instagram story, she wrote: “Now SNAPCHAT I know you already know you ain’t my fav app out there!

“But I’m just trying to figure out what the point was with this mess! I’d love to call it ignorance, but I know you ain’t that dumb!

“You spent money to animate something that would intentionally bring shame to DV (domestic violence) victims and made a joke of it!!

“This isn’t about my personal feelings, cause I don’t have much of them… but all the women, children and men that have been victims of DV in the past and especially the ones who haven’t made it out yet… you let us down! Shame on you. Throw the whole app-oligy away.”

Snapchat has apologised and removed the content, which was an advert for a game.

The company says the ad was reviewed and approved in error, and confirmed it violated their advertising guidelines.

“We immediately removed the ad last weekend, once we became aware. We are sorry that this happened,” a spokesperson for Snapchat said.

In February, shares in Snap Inc plummeted after Kylie Jenner told her 24.5 million Twitter followers that she no longer uses the messaging app.