New Mexico’s Attorney General Raúl Torrez has taken legal action against Snapchat, accusing the company of facilitating the sharing of child sexual abuse material and enabling child sexual exploitation. Torrez filed a lawsuit against Snap Inc. in state court, alleging that the platform’s design and policies create an environment where predators can easily target children through sextortion schemes and other forms of sexual abuse. The lawsuit also claims that Snap openly promotes child trafficking, drugs, and guns. Torrez previously filed a similar lawsuit against Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, for similar reasons, stating that predators are able to trade child sexual abuse material and solicit minors for sex on these platforms.
In response to the lawsuit, Snap issued a statement expressing concern for the online safety of young people and stating that they have invested significant resources in their trust and safety teams to address critical issues. The company emphasized that they have designed their service to promote online safety by moderating content and enabling direct messaging with close friends and family. However, the lawsuit alleges that minors report having more online sexual interactions on Snapchat than any other platform, and more sex trafficking victims are recruited on Snapchat than on any other platform. The complaint details a monthslong undercover investigation conducted by New Mexico, which revealed a vast network of dark web sites dedicated to sharing stolen, non-consensual sexual images from Snap, including information related to minors younger than 13 being sexually assaulted.
During the undercover investigation, the New Mexico Department of Justice set up a decoy Snapchat account for a 14-year-old named Heather, who found and exchanged messages with accounts using disturbing names such as “child.rape” and “pedo_lover10.” The investigation found that Snapchat was the largest source of images and videos among the dark web sites investigated and identified Snapchat accounts that openly circulated and sold child abuse images directly on the platform. The lawsuit filed by Torrez against Snap highlights the company’s alleged failure to protect young users from predators and prevent the dissemination of child sexual abuse material. Torrez emphasized that Snap’s harmful design features have contributed to the exploitation of children and the perpetuation of illegal activities on the platform.
The lawsuit against Snap comes in the wake of increasing scrutiny on social media companies for their role in enabling harmful behavior and facilitating the spread of illicit content. Governments and regulators are increasingly taking action to hold these companies accountable for their platforms’ impact on society, especially when it comes to protecting vulnerable populations such as children. The legal action taken by Attorney General Torrez against Snap underscores the importance of ensuring online safety for young people and holding tech companies responsible for the content and interactions on their platforms. The outcome of this lawsuit could have far-reaching implications for Snap and other social media companies in terms of their policies, practices, and responsibilities regarding child protection and online safety.
