AR porn lenses live on in Snapchat despite ban

Snapchat has deleted Naughty America's account and taken down the X-rated AR lenses it debuted this week. However, the porn studio isn't backing down quietly, as it's distributing the source files and directions for the lenses, and encouraging fans to build their own versions.

Naughty America created the lenses to peddle subscriptions to its family of sites. They brought some performers (with varying levels of clothing) to Snapchat's camera and let people place virtual porn stars in their own environments. The company's CEO Andreas Hronopoulos believed the lenses were permitted on the platform, as they weren't publicly available. Snapchat begged to differ and swiftly removed them, along with the studio's profile. It told Variety the lenses violated the terms of service, community guidelines and lens studio submission guidelines.

Now, Hronopoulos says Naughty America users are downloading the files and making their own versions of the lenses. It might be harder for Snapchat to track those variants down and remove them. It urges users to flag questionable material, and its systems can tell when lenses are becoming popular, perhaps prompting Snapchat's team to take a closer look. However, much in the way other platforms moderate potentially unsavory content, it seems Snapchat might have to take reactive rather than preventative measures if it wants to stamp out the lenses.