WASHINGTON — The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission have subpoenaed Snap, the company behind Snapchat, for information about its initial public offering, according to the company.

Snap said it believes government regulators are investigating issues related to a class-action lawsuit, in which shareholders alleged that the company misled investors by downplaying the negative effects that Facebook-owned Instagram had on its business. “Our understanding is that the DOJ is likely focused on IPO disclosures relating to competition from Instagram,” the company said in a statement to The Washington Post.

Snap began trading on the stock market in March 2017. According to the company’s S-1 filing, Snap said it competes “with other companies in every aspect of our business,” and noted that Instagram’s stories feature ” largely mimics our Stories feature and may be directly competitive.” Snap told The Washington Post it believes the claims in the class-action lawsuit are “meritless” and that “our IPO disclosures were accurate and complete.” Snap also said it has responded to the subpoenas and requests for information from the SEC and Justice Department, and would continue to cooperate with the federal agencies.

Shareholders in the lawsuit allege, in part, that Snap concealed crucial information in the runup to its IPO, failing to reveal how competition from Instagram was eating away at its user growth.

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