diff --git a/client/src/entrypoints/snippets/snippet-chooser-telepath.js b/client/src/entrypoints/snippets/snippet-chooser-telepath.js
index a09115dc34..1e8d46cb71 100644
--- a/client/src/entrypoints/snippets/snippet-chooser-telepath.js
+++ b/client/src/entrypoints/snippets/snippet-chooser-telepath.js
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-class SnippetChooser {
+class SnippetChooserFactory {
   constructor(html, idPattern) {
     this.html = html;
     this.idPattern = idPattern;
@@ -8,14 +8,14 @@ class SnippetChooser {
     const html = this.html.replace(/__NAME__/g, name).replace(/__ID__/g, id);
     // eslint-disable-next-line no-param-reassign
     placeholder.outerHTML = html;
-    /* the chooser object returned by createImageChooser also serves as the JS widget representation */
+    /* the SnippetChooser object also serves as the JS widget representation */
     // eslint-disable-next-line no-undef
-    const chooser = createSnippetChooser(id);
+    const chooser = new SnippetChooser(id);
     chooser.setState(initialState);
     return chooser;
   }
 }
 window.telepath.register(
   'wagtail.snippets.widgets.SnippetChooser',
-  SnippetChooser,
+  SnippetChooserFactory,
 );
diff --git a/client/src/entrypoints/snippets/snippet-chooser.js b/client/src/entrypoints/snippets/snippet-chooser.js
index f65bf69853..708008c89f 100644
--- a/client/src/entrypoints/snippets/snippet-chooser.js
+++ b/client/src/entrypoints/snippets/snippet-chooser.js
@@ -20,8 +20,10 @@ class SnippetChooser extends Chooser {
     return this.chooserBaseUrl + urlQuery;
   }
 }
+window.SnippetChooser = SnippetChooser;
 
 function createSnippetChooser(id) {
+  /* RemovedInWagtail50Warning */
   return new SnippetChooser(id);
 }
 window.createSnippetChooser = createSnippetChooser;
diff --git a/docs/releases/4.0.md b/docs/releases/4.0.md
index 2c248534ed..8d3000f929 100644
--- a/docs/releases/4.0.md
+++ b/docs/releases/4.0.md
@@ -144,3 +144,7 @@ The `move_breadcrumb` template tag is no longer used and has been removed.
 ### `wagtail.contrib.modeladmin.menus.SubMenu` is deprecated
 
 The `wagtail.contrib.modeladmin.menus.SubMenu` class should no longer be used for constructing submenus of the admin sidebar menu. Instead, import `wagtail.admin.menu.Menu` and pass the list of menu items as the `items` keyword argument.
+
+### `createSnippetChooser` replaced with `SnippetChooser` class
+
+The JavaScript function `createSnippetChooser(id)` has been deprecated; user code should call `new SnippetChooser(id)` instead.
diff --git a/wagtail/snippets/tests.py b/wagtail/snippets/tests.py
index 32aaae0da2..29fd79eb4b 100644
--- a/wagtail/snippets/tests.py
+++ b/wagtail/snippets/tests.py
@@ -1294,7 +1294,7 @@ class TestSnippetChooserPanel(TestCase, WagtailTestUtils):
 
     def test_render_js(self):
         self.assertIn(
-            'createSnippetChooser("id_advert");',
+            'new SnippetChooser("id_advert");',
             self.snippet_chooser_panel.render_as_field(),
         )
 
@@ -2502,7 +2502,7 @@ class TestSnippetChooserPanelWithCustomPrimaryKey(TestCase, WagtailTestUtils):
 
     def test_render_js(self):
         self.assertIn(
-            'createSnippetChooser("id_advertwithcustomprimarykey");',
+            'new SnippetChooser("id_advertwithcustomprimarykey");',
             self.snippet_chooser_panel.render_as_field(),
         )
 
diff --git a/wagtail/snippets/widgets.py b/wagtail/snippets/widgets.py
index edc0be4284..72352ec780 100644
--- a/wagtail/snippets/widgets.py
+++ b/wagtail/snippets/widgets.py
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ class AdminSnippetChooser(BaseChooser):
                 raise
 
     def render_js_init(self, id_, name, value_data):
-        return "createSnippetChooser({id});".format(id=json.dumps(id_))
+        return "new SnippetChooser({id});".format(id=json.dumps(id_))
 
     @cached_property
     def media(self):