Quote:Snapchat has internal tools dedicated to accessing consumer data and these same tools have been subject to abuse by employees.
 
According to a report published by Motherboard, "multiple" members of staff have abused their positions and used their privileges to access these tools and spy on users.

One of the programs, dubbed "SnapLion," provides the keys to a user's kingdom, sources told the publication. SnapLion was originally used to gather information on users when a law enforcement request or valid subpoena was issued, but access has since expanded across multiple teams including a department called "Customer Ops," security staff, and employees set to combat bullying and spam.  

While such tools are increasingly important for technology vendors in order to respond to legitimate legal requests and to control inappropriate behavior on their networks, unless companies implement the concept of least privilege to limit access based on what staff members need to perform their jobs, there is always the potential for abuse.

In this case, two former and one current Snap employee said staff members have used these tools for illegitimate purposes and to spy on users without due cause in the past.