Snap Releases CitizenSnap Report, Revamped Employee Code of Conduct

Snap Inc. released its second annual CitizenSnap Report this week, along with a revamped Code of Conduct for its employees. Co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel wrote in a memo to team members, “The new code offers our team members an ethical decision-making framework designed to help us think broadly about what it means to do the right thing for all of our stakeholders. We believe it’s a moral imperative to work toward creating a healthy and safe society, and we know it matters to the hundreds of millions of Snapchatters who use our services every day. It’s also good for business.” The code of conduct is divided into five sections: Be Kind to Each Other: Create a Safe and Healthy WorkplaceFoster an Inclusive CultureAvoid Conflicts of Interest Be Kind to Our Community: Protect Our Community’s PrivacyProtect Our Community’s Well-Being Be Kind to Our Partners: Don’t BribeBe Responsible With Entertainment, Gifts and TravelUse Trustworthy RepresentativesUse Trustworthy Suppliers Be Kind to Our Investors: Keep Accurate Records and ContractsMake Truthful and Accurate Public StatementsDon't Trade on Inside InformationCompete FairlyRespect Snap’s PropertyKeep Confidential Information Confidential Be Kind to Our World: Respect LawsProtect the EnvironmentRespect and Promote Human RightsGive Back And the CitizenSnap Report outlined the company’s goals and progress on the following fronts: Society, Planet, People and Governance. Society Snap’s goals are: Strengthening communities through strategic partnerships, giving, and volunteering.Implementing responsible design principles to ensure inclusion, safety and privacy for everyone who uses our products.Leveraging our platform to support mental health, civic engagement and promote initiatives and causes with a positive social impact. The company’s partnership with TurboVote drove over 30 million Snapchatters to use its tools and resulted in more than 1.2 million people registering to vote in the 2020 presidential elections in the U.S. via the application, with more than one-half of them being first-time voters. Snap pointed to the absence of an open news feed in the Snapchat app and the presence of a curated content platform, adding that it “intensified our efforts to protect privacy, moderate content and ads and fight misinformation and hate.” Over 197 million people used in-app tools to access information about Covid-19, and more than 88 million watched related content on its Discover platform. Snap donated more than 200,000 meals to organizations supporting pandemic relief efforts, as well as N95 masks to hospitals and custom face shields made at its research and development facility in Los Angeles to local healthcare workers. The Here for You feature that debuted on Snapchat in March 2020 helped direct users to resources from expert partners when they searched for mental health topics. At least 53% of the platform’s Snap Originals series featured leads or hosts who were BIPOC or LGBTQ+, and Snap’s content team produced daily coverage on the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Team members contributed more than 8,500 service hours to Snap Philanthropy projects globally. And historically underrepresented groups were provided with opportunities through initiatives including Snap Academies, Yellow Accelerator, career exploratory events and mentorship programs. Planet Snap’s goals are: Combating climate change by mitigating the carbon footprint of our products and operations.Conserving natural resources and reducing waste.Minimizing the environmental footprint of our products across their lifecycle.Building a socially and environmentally responsible supply chain that emphasizes worker well-being and responsible materials use. Snap said it has achieved carbon neutrality and adopted science-based emissions reduction targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative. The company also committed to purchase 100% renewable electricity for its facilities across the globe. It has begun the process of making a Net Zero commitment within the next year. Snap said it continues to explore ways to reduce the environmental footprint of its products, adding that it lowered the power consumed by iOS users when they type in chat by 48% last year. The company donated more than 30,000 meals and $500,000 to organizations fighting against food insecurity. And Snap began enhancing travel policies to minimize business travel and reduce emissions as the world and workplace return to normal, providing employees with incentive programs that support lower-carbon commuting alternatives. People Snap’s goals are: Creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace to strengthen our culture and inspire innovation in our organization and the industry at large.Encouraging wellness and ensuring a healthy, safe environment.Engaging, supporting and developing employees to foster our unique values and our strong commitment to integrity. Snap began redesigning its systems to build products that work for all Snapchatters, rewriting machine learning algorithms to remove bias and adopting inclusive design principles. New diversity, equity and inclusion accountability mechanisms include incorporating DEI into its performance management process, regularly reviewing progress by the executive team and creating an Employee Resource Group Advisory Council. Governance Snap’s goals are: Maintaining a governance structure focused on creating long term shareholder value, transparency and robust decision-making processes.Selecting a diverse and representative board of directors.Doing business responsibly and ethically, and expecting the same of our partners.Integrating a robust enterprise risk framework to anticipate, identify, prioritize and manage material risks to business objectives.Operating a tax strategy that positions us as a responsible part of communities where we operate. Snap’s board is now 50% women, and 63% of its independent directors are current or former CEOs at prominent companies. The company strengthened its certification program for key non-financial metrics, such as daily active users. Spiegel concluded, “All of these efforts are a reflection of the hard work and passion of so many teams across our company, during an especially challenging year. I am so grateful for how far we have come and energized by the work that lies ahead.”