“Half of my life is on this app and now they expect us to pay for it.” That line has become the rallying cry of furious Snapchat users. The platform’s plan to charge for saving old photos and videos has sparked widespread anger and accusations of greed.
Charging to remember
In September, Snap — the company behind Snapchat — announced that users with more than five gigabytes of saved Memories will soon need to pay. For many, those photos and videos represent milestones, friendships, and moments they never wanted to lose. Now, users say the company is putting a price on nostalgia.
Snap defended the decision, comparing it to paid storage options from Apple and Google. The company said users can download their Memories to their devices if they prefer not to pay — though that can mean handling tens of gigabytes of files.
A spokesperson said the change will affect only a small number of people. They admitted that “moving from free to paid service is never easy” but claimed the update would be “worth it.” Online, users disagree.
The ‘memory tax’ sparks outrage
A fast-growing online petition calls the new charge a “memory tax.” Critics describe it as “ridiculous,” “unethical,” and “dystopian.” Many say they’ll delete the app rather than pay.
On Google Play, user Natacha Jonsson left a furious one-star review. “If I know millennials right, most of us have years worth of memories on Snapchat,” she wrote. “And most of us only kept the app for that reason. 5GB is absolutely nothing when you have years of memories… Bye Snap.”
In a viral TikTok post, 20-year-old journalism student Guste Ven from London said she plans to leave the app entirely. “I downloaded all my memories as soon as I could,” she told a British news outlet. “Almost all of my teenage years are on Snapchat. It doesn’t make sense to charge for something that’s always been free.”
Longtime users feel let down
Snapchat has not said how much its new storage plans will cost in the UK. The company said the rollout will take place gradually worldwide.
Londoner Amber Daley, 23, said she would be “distraught” if the fees arrive. She has used Snapchat daily since 2014 and described it as “a part of everyday life.”
Amber said she understood that the platform needs to make money but believes the decision is unfair to loyal users. “It’s wrong to charge people who’ve supported the app for years,” she said. “These aren’t just called Memories — they’re our real memories.”
The price of digital nostalgia
Charging for storage is common. Millions already pay Apple or Google to keep their photos safe. But many Snapchat users say this change feels different — because they built their archives believing it would remain free.
“Hosting trillions of Memories isn’t cheap,” said social media consultant Matt Navarra. “Snapchat pays for storage, backups, encryption, and bandwidth.” Still, he said, the shift feels like a “bait and switch.” “Encouraging users to archive their lives for years, then charging them for it, doesn’t sit right,” he added. “For many, these Memories aren’t data — they’re emotional artefacts.”
Emotional ties and digital trust
Many reviewers share that sentiment. One wrote that their Snapchat gallery is “the most precious thing to me.” “It holds everything — the births of family members, the losses, the laughter, and my entire teenage life.”
Dr. Taylor Annabell, a postdoctoral researcher at Utrecht University, said the move highlights the risk of trusting commercial apps with personal history. “These companies profit from emotional attachment and the illusion of endless access,” she said. “It keeps people connected to the platform. But they’re not the guardians of our memories — they’re businesses selling access to them.”
