its internal investigation into racist behavior. Over the course of the investigation, a law firm hired by Snap reached out to some current and former employees to conduct interviews, and asked if they experienced or witnessed discrimination during their time at Snap and Snapchat."We recently concluded our investigation into allegations of potential racial bias raised by former employees from our content team.
The Mashable article in June forced Snap CEO Evan Spiegel to address concerns of racism at the company at a subsequent all-hands meeting. At the same meeting, Spiegel defended the company's decision to not release internal diversity numbers. In notes obtained by Business Insider, Spiegel told employees that releasing Snap's diversity data would reinforce the idea that minority groups are underrepresented in the tech industry.
The Snap spokesperson added: "Content has always been a critical component of Snapchat, and will be even more important going forward with the continued success and growth of Discover, our platform for premium content, and Spotlight, our just-launched entertainment platform. We recently announced some changes to best position our teams to support both platforms, our product strategy going forward, our premium content partners, and our creator community.
Several former and current employees told Business Insider that Richardson was the most senior manager presiding over Snap's content, aside from the three executives at the top of the team: Sean Mills, director of content programming; Mike Dibenedetto, director of content strategy; and Vanessa Guthrie, director of original content.Your morning cheat sheet to get you caught up on what you need to know in tech. Sign up to 10 Things in Tech You Need to Know Today.