The social networking app Snapchat is a “breeding ground” for child predators, the state of New Mexico argued in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.
In the lawsuit, the New Mexico Department of Justice alleged that the app’s design “openly foster and promote illicit sexual material involving children and facilitate sextortion and the trafficking of children, drugs, and guns.”
Snapchat works by allowing users to exchange photos and videos that are meant to disappear forever once they are viewed.
For this reason, Snapchat is different from most traditional social media sites, like Facebook, X, and Instagram.
Additionally, its recommendation algorithm provides an environment for rampant sexual abuse material and child sexual exploitation.
“Our undercover investigation revealed that Snapchat's harmful design features create an environment where predators can easily target children through sextortion schemes and other forms of sexual abuse,” New Mexico AG Raul Torrez said in a statement.
The lawsuit said that young children on the platform are the “main object” of an “adults-only show.”
“While failing to prevent, identify, or protect even young children on its platform, Snap introduced them to the equivalent of an adults-only show for which they were not only the inappropriate audience, but often the main object,” the lawsuit, which was viewed exclusively by The Washington Post, said.
The investigation involved creating a decoy Snapchat account using fake images of a minor (via the Post):
The probe involved standing up a decoy account named “Sexy14Heather,” using AI-generated images to simulate a 14-year-old girl. The lawsuit alleges the fake account received a flood of recommendations to contact accounts seeking to trade sexually explicit messages and photos, including from users with names including “teentradevirgin” and other sexual phrases.
The lawsuit also said that Snapchat violated state law against deceptive trade practices, misleading the public about how safe the platform was so it could continue to profit off young users.
“Snap has misled users into believing that photos and videos sent on their platform will disappear, but predators can permanently capture this content and they have created a virtual yearbook of child sexual images that are traded, sold, and stored indefinitely. Through our litigation against Meta and Snap, the New Mexico Department of Justice will continue to hold these platforms accountable for prioritizing profits over children's safety,” Torres said.
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