The 23-year-old CEO of Snapchat criticized journalists on Twitter Monday morning, claiming that some details in a recent Forbes cover story about his startup were misreported, but Forbes responded hours later with a transcript from Spiegel’s interview with the story’s author, reporter J.J. Colao, essentially proving that Spiegel misled the publication during its reporting.
Kurt Wagner of Mashable writes, “The details in question were included in the story’s lead, and depicted an email exchange between Spiegel and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. In the story, Zuckerberg emailed Spiegel in late 2012 asking for a meeting to discuss the new startup. Spiegel’s response: ‘I’m happy to meet … if you come to me.’
“At least that’s what Spiegel told Forbes.
“Few people can pull off a demand like that, especially when speaking with the multibillionaire CEO of the world’s largest social network. And it turns out Spiegel is not, actually, one of those people.
“After a Business Insider reporter called Spiegel ‘arrogant’ after reading the Forbes article, Spiegel responded on Twitter by publishing the actual email chain between him and Zuckerberg from November 2012. The emails confirmed that Spiegel did not, in fact, set the terms for the meeting as originally described by Forbes. Instead, Zuckerberg simply had plans to be in Los Angeles a few weeks later, and the meeting was established during his trip.
“At first, it looked as if Forbes goofed — until the publication released a transcript of its interview, in which Spiegel ‘fabricated a story full of swagger,’ according to Forbes editor Randall Lane.”
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