US senator proposes bill to ban Snapchat ‘Snapstreaks’

WASHINGTON: A bill introduced by a U.S. senator aims to curb overuse of social media by banning Snapchat’s Snapstreak feature, which encourages users to send photos on the app at least once every 24 hours.
The provision to ban the streak feature on Snap Inc’s photo-sharing platform, Snapchat, is part of Senator Josh Hawley’s “Social Media Addiction Reduction Technology (SMART) Act” to ban “addictive and deceptive techniques” by social media companies, the Missouri Republican said in a statement.
The Snapstreak feature displays the number of days a Snapchat user has continuously sent photos to another user. If a streak goes unattended for 24 hours, it disappears from the user’s app. Some users are so dedicated to their streaks that Snapchat has a form on its website for inquiries to recover lost streaks that may have disappeared erroneously.