Snapchat says 4 million people have used its "Run for Office" tool

Over 4 million people have used Snapchat's in-app technology that helps young users find local political races to run in, CEO Evan Spiegel announced at the top of his keynote presentation to Snapchat partners Thursday.

The big picture: The number was revealed the annual "Snap Partner Summit," where the company typically debuts new products. The presentation had a heavy focus on ways new technologies could be used to promote the company's values, like civic engagement, accessibility and inclusivity.

Details: At the very top of the event, Spiegel said there have been over 25,000 sign-ups of young users looking to run for office via its new "Run for Office" tool that debuted late last year.

• The tool, which works with civic engagement partners like "Run for Something" and "Run GenZ," helps connect people to recruitment organizations to help match users to local elections they may want to run in.
• The tech allows Snapchat users to nominate friends to run for office and explore local positions, sorted by the issues they care about, Spiegel said.
• The company played a video showing young users that have already used the in-app technology to run for office, including 31-year-old Michael Tubbs, who became the first black mayor of Stockton, California, five years ago.

Catch up quick: Snapchat began exploring ways to include civic tech in its app leading up to the 2018 midterms by adding polling locations to its Snap Map and making it possible for users to register to vote in the app.

• During the 2020 election cycle, over 1.24 million people on Snapchat registered to vote through Snapchat's in-app tools, more than double the number of voters the company helped register during the 2018 midterms.

• A Snapchat spokesperson said that leading up to the 2020 election, more than half (56%) of Snapchat users that registered to vote were also first-time voters, and a vast majority (64%) were between the ages of 18 and 24.

What's next: Snapchat plans to double down on ways its app can be used to engage young users ahead of the 2022 midterms and 2024 general election.