Snap CEO Evan Spiegel Talks TikTok, Politics And Earnings

Snap Inc SNAP CEO Evan Spiegel discussed multiple hot topics affecting the social media company during a CNBC interview aired Monday

Snap's Earnings And Guidance

Snap's third-quarter earnings report showed the company has 210 million global daily active users and Spiegel said there is "a lot of headroom" to expand. Despite a smaller total headcount, Snapchat reaches more 13- to 34-year-old users compared to Facebook, Inc. FB. This achievement gives Snap's management the confidence it has a path to continue growing worldwide.

Management guided its fourth-quarter revenue to be $540 million to $560 million, which is shy of the Street's estimate of $555.4 million at the midpoint. Spiegel said he "isn't sure" why the Street reacted negatively as its guidance implies another quarter of year-over-year revenue acceleration.

"If the stocks' up 150-something percent in the year, a couple percent here and there probably doesn't make much of a difference," he said.

Snapchat's View On Political Ads

Snap is taking a different approach to political advertising than Twitter Inc's TWTR all-or-nothing approach.

Snap has a group of workers dedicated to fact checking political ads on its platform, Spiegel said. In fact, the company has a policy of putting "all advertising to review." The company recognizes it plays a role in politics given its ability to reach first-time voters and accepts this comes with some responsibilities.

"We want [young users] to be able to engage with the political conversation, but we don't allow things like misinformation to appear in that advertising," he said.

Snapchat's Relationship With TikTok

Video sharing app TikTok is the first Chinese company to become "really successful" among a U.S. audience, Spiegel said. Tiktok isn't a direct competitor to Snapchat, but rather an advertising partner as TikTok's content is shared through Snapchat.

Even if TikTok wasn't a partner, the two platforms share little in common, he said. Snapchat's core purpose is communicating with close friends while TikTok is "more of a popularity contest."

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