The changes were intended to separate interactions with friends from branded content - including that of celebrities and influencers.

Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel wrote in a blog post that he believed blurring the two had contributed to the rise of fake news.

However, thousands of Snapchat users say that the new layout is hard to use.

Nic Rumsey, who set up the petition, wrote that some are using Virtual Private Network (VPN) apps - which use servers abroad to mask the location of a device - in order to access the older version of the platform: "That's how annoying this update has become," he said.

"Many 'new features' are useless or defeat the original purposes Snapchat has had for the past years."

The petition, posted on the change.org website, is one of several appealing to Snapchat to revert to its previous state.

Users now swipe left to see and interact with their friends, and swipe right to see branded and celebrity content.

Model Chrissie Teigen tweeted that she didn't like feeling that her followers no longer felt like "friends" as a result.

"How many people have to hate an update for it to be reconsidered?" she asked.

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BBC NEWS