Snapchat removed its Juneteenth filter asking users to 'smile' to break chains

• Snapchat removed its Juneteenth filter on Friday after critics said it was tone-deaf, per CNBC.
• The filter asked users to smile, after which chains appeared and then broke. 
• Juneteenth commemorates the effective end of slavery in the U.S.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Snapchat's Juneteenth filter has been removed after receiving criticism, per CNBC.

The filter displayed a Pan-African flag and read "Juneteenth, Freedom Day."

Like many other Snapchat filters, the Juneteenth filter promoted users to smile, after which chains appeared and then broke in the background of the filter. 

The filter began to receive attention and criticism after Mark Luckie, a digital strategist and former journalist, tweeted about it. 

Business Insider previously reported that Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel announced that the company would keep its diversity report private on June 11.

Juneteenth celebrates the day that the news of the Emancipation Proclamation reached Texas, the most confederate state in the U.S., freeing enslaved African Americans, on June 19, 1865. June 19 recognizes the effective end of slavery in the U.S.

SEE ALSO: Snap CEO says in internal meeting he doesn't release diversity numbers because it would reinforce the perception that Silicon Valley isn't diverse

DON'T MISS: How Juneteenth, the day commemorating the end of slavery in the US, finally became recognized as a holiday by major companies like Nike and Lyft — and landed in the center of a Trump controversy

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Inside London during COVID-19 lockdown