Snapchat is dope. Just ask FLOTUS, who just joined the wildly popular image messaging app to presumably offer many presidential keys. The app's reliance on filters, which have inspired equal parts stokedness and controversy in the past, is crucial to its popularity and has helped differentiate the snap life from, say, the tweet life. But what's the real inspiration behind those filters?
Several accomplished makeup artists, after noticing various Snapchat filters that seemed to borrow a little too much from their work, have publicly accused Snapchat of ripping off their ideas in recent months. These accusations came shortly after a similar accusation from artist Alexander Khokhlov, according toBuzzFeed. A portrait he created with makeup artist Valeriya Kutsan in 2013 landed on the cover of Scientific American Mind in 2014:
A subsequent Snapchat filter was promptly called out for looking hella similar to that Scientific American Mind cover:
As noted by Cosmopolitan Tuesday, makeup artists Argenis Pinal and Mykie later shared similar stories of Snapchat filter déjà vu:
"It is difficult for makeup artists to protect their work since the copyright office does not automatically list makeup as one of their mediums eligible for copyright, unlike other types of art," Mykie told the Ringer. In a statement to the Ringer in response to Mykie's story, a spokesperson for Snapchat directly addressed the allegations and revealed that the company had "already implemented" a new review process for future filter designs:
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Snapchat did not immediately respond to Complex's request for additional comment.
