Snapchat has again released a filter that seems to channel racial sterotypes, igniting a backlash from users accusing the company of trafficking in digital yellowface. The new filter debuted Tuesday, and gives users slit eyes and contorted facial features.
It appears that Snapchat has taken the filter down as of this morning.
“This anime-inspired lens has already expired, and won’t be put back into circulation,” Snapchat said when asked to comment. “Lenses are meant to be playful and never to offend.”
Nonetheless, the filter was seen as tone-deaf, given America’s history of yellowface, a term usually referring to non-Asian actors playing stereotyped or caricatured versions of Asian people onscreen. Read more…
