Snapchat removed the Maori tattoo filter after an outcry

Social media platform Snapchat has removed a feature that allowed users to apply traditional Maori tattoos on their faces.

The filter was removed after discovering prompt outcry in New Zealand's indigenous Maori community. The Maori community considers tattoo art sacred, and it is taken as an important marker of the wearer's identity. The move follows local media reports that the filters proliferated on social media. Radio New Zealand showed users applying filters with the names "Maori Face Tattoo" and "Maori" on Instagram.

A statement from Snapchat confirmed that the filter and a duplicate had been removed from their platform. Snapchat refers to those filters as Lenses, and they use open source software Looksery, allowing users to modify their features in real-time. Snapchat filters are user-generated and can be freely used and shared by others on the platform.

Moko or facial tattoos have been a part of Maori culture for centuries. They are carved into the skin using chisels in an important ritual and are used as a means to mark each wearer's unique heritage and genealogy. Therefore, no two tattoos are identical, and the mass application of the same filter across many different social media users' faces contributed to the outcry.