Snapchat Sued by New Mexico for Failing to Protect Children from Sexual Exploitation

New Mexico announced Thursday that it has filed a lawsuit against Snapchat owner Snap Inc. alleging that the messaging app’s policies and design features facilitate the sharing of child sexual exploitation material.

The lawsuit, filed by New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez, says months of investigation have shown that Snapchat is a major platform for sextortion, in which a child molester coerces a minor into sending explicit photos or videos and threatens to distribute the content unless more sexual content is sent or money is paid.

A Snap spokesperson said the company is investigating the complaint and will respond through the courts.

Snap has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in its trust and safety teams and will continue to work with law enforcement, online safety experts and other groups, the spokesperson said.

Snapchat is extremely popular among teens and young users and is known for its messages disappearing after 24 hours.

“Snap has misled users into believing that photos and videos sent on its platform will disappear, but predators can permanently capture this content and have created a virtual yearbook of child sexual images that are traded, sold, and stored indefinitely,” Torrez said in a statement.

As part of the investigation, the state Department of Justice opened a fake Snapchat account for a 14-year-old girl named Heather, who exchanged messages with an account called “child.rape” and others with explicit names.

Researchers also found 10,000 records related to Snap and child sexual abuse content on dark sites. They said Snapchat was “by far the largest source of images and videos among the dark sites examined.”

New Mexico sued Meta Platforms in December over similar allegations that the company failed to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation.

(Reporting by Dang in Austin; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Mark Porter)