Snap counters lawsuit alleging it falsified user growth figures

Snap, owner of the Snapchat messaging service, has countered a lawsuit brought by a former employee alleging that it had deliberately manipulated its user growth figures by dismissing the suit as a publicity stunt. Anthony Pompliano sued Snap earlier this month. He claims he was duped into leaving his job at Facebook to oversee Snapchat's growth team and was fired for being a potential whistleblower after he discovered the company was lying to investors to drive up the price of its forthcoming IPO. In a court filing, dated January 18, the company said Pompliano's "allegations against Snap are false from top to bottom and right out of his allege-fraud-against-former-employers playbook."