New Mexico Sues Snap, Inc.

The state of New Mexico is suing the makers of Snapchat, alleging that the social media app’s design and algorithms enable the sexual exploitation of children.

Attorney General Raul Torrez announced this morning that a lawsuit has been filed against Snap, Inc.

The New Mexico Department of Justice has been conducting a months-long investigation, alleging that Snap and its executives misled the public about the safety of the platform.

Torrez said in today’s announcement that even though Snap tells users their photos and videos will disappear, predators can still capture, store, trade and sell the content.

One aspect of the Justice Department’s case was built through an undercover investigation that uncovered a network of dark web sites engaged in sharing stolen, nonconsensual sexual images from Snap, including 10,000 images from the past year.

The complaint also alleges that Snap designed the platform to be addictive to young people, leading some users to suffer from depression, anxiety, sleep deprivation and other mental health issues.

The New Mexico Department of Justice has also gone after Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. In May, a judge denied Meta’s motion to dismiss the state’s lawsuit, which focused on the company’s role in enabling the sexual exploitation of children.

According to today’s new complaint, Snapchat is used by 20 million teens in the US, and about half of them use it every day.