AG Takes On Snapchat Owner In Child Sexual Exploitation Lawsuit, +More

New Mexico Attorney General Sues Company Behind Snapchat for Allegedly Sexually Extorting Children on the Site — Barbara Ortutay, Associated Press

The New Mexico Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against the company behind Snapchat, alleging that the site’s design and policies encourage the sharing of child sexual abuse material and facilitate the sexual exploitation of children.

Attorney General Raul Torrez filed the lawsuit against Snap Inc. on Thursday in state court in Santa Fe. In addition to sexual abuse, the lawsuit alleges that the company openly promotes child trafficking, drug trafficking and weapons trafficking.

Last December, Torrez filed a similar lawsuit against Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, alleging that it allows predators to trade child abuse material and solicit minors for sex on its platforms. That lawsuit is pending.

Snap’s “harmful design features create an environment where predators can easily target children through sextortion schemes and other forms of sexual abuse,” Torrez said in a statement. Sexual extortion, or sextortion, involves persuading someone to send explicit photos online and then threatening to make the images public unless the victim pays money or provides sexual favors.

“Snap has tricked users into believing that photos and videos posted to its platform will disappear. However, scammers have been able to permanently capture this content, creating a virtual yearbook of child pornography images that are traded, sold and stored indefinitely,” Torres said.

Snap said in a statement that it shares Torrez’s and the public’s concerns about young people’s online safety.

“We understand that online threats continue to evolve, and we will continue to work diligently to address these critical issues,” the Santa Monica, California-based company said. “We’ve invested hundreds of millions of dollars in our trust and safety teams over the past several years and designed our service to promote online safety by moderating content and enabling direct messaging with close friends and family.”

According to the complaint, minors report having more sexual interactions online on Snapchat than on any other platform. Additionally, Snapchat recruits more sex trafficking victims than any other platform.

Before the lawsuit, New Mexico conducted a months-long undercover investigation into child sexual abuse images on Snapchat. According to Torrez’s affidavit, the investigation uncovered a “vast network of dark web sites dedicated to sharing stolen, nonconsensual sexual images from Snap,” uncovering more than 10,000 records related to Snap and child sexual abuse material over the past year. This included information relating to minors under the age of 13 being sexually abused.

As part of the undercover investigation, the New Mexico Department of Justice created a fake Snapchat account for a 14-year-old girl named Heather. She found and exchanged messages with accounts with names such as “child.rape” and “pedo_lover10.”

Snapchat was “by far the largest source of images and videos among the dark web sites examined,” according to the indictment. Investigators also found Snapchat accounts openly distributing and selling child abuse images directly on the platform.

New Mexico begins construction of abortion clinic to serve neighboring states and train medical students — Morgan Lee, Associated Press

Construction has begun on a state-funded reproductive health and abortion clinic in southern New Mexico. The clinic will serve local residents and people traveling from neighboring states like Texas and Oklahoma that have strict abortion restrictions, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Thursday.

Construction of the clinic will use $10 million in state funding set aside by the governor under a 2022 executive order. New Mexico has some of the most liberal abortion access laws in the country.

Lujan Grisham, a second-term Democrat who will not run for re-election in 2026, reiterated her commitment to expanding abortion access following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and repealed universal abortion access.

“Access to reproductive health care should be a basic human right,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “Once completed, this clinic will be a testament to our state’s commitment to reproductive freedom for New Mexicans, as well as for those traveling here from out of state who need this care.”

New Mexico follows Democratic states from California to New Jersey in efforts to improve abortion services and protections.

New Jersey last year awarded $15 million in interest-free loans and grants to health care providers that provide abortion services for facility improvements and increased safety. In 2022, California lawmakers approved $200 million in new spending to strengthen the state’s already robust abortion protections.

The New Mexico governor’s announcement puts the state’s abortion policy back in the spotlight ahead of the November general election. The entire state legislature is up for re-election, while Democrats are defending their majorities in the House and Senate.

Republican candidates for a U.S. Senate seat and a congressional district in southern New Mexico have indicated they will not support a federal ban on abortion, according to Democratic-backed political ads highlighting the possibility of further federal restrictions.

The New Mexico Republican Party on Thursday condemned state spending on an abortion clinic that caters to out-of-state visitors, calling it an example of Democrats’ misplaced priorities.

In 2021, New Mexico state lawmakers repealed a dormant 1969 law that made most abortion procedures criminal, ensuring access. But opposition to abortion is strong in New Mexico communities along the Texas border, which has one of the most restrictive bans in the U.S.

Several cities and counties in New Mexico have passed ordinances banning abortions. However, those ordinances are on hold until the state Supreme Court considers whether local governments have the right to support federal abortion restrictions based on a 19th century U.S. law that bans the mailing of abortion drugs and supplies.

The new clinic, scheduled to be completed within 18 months, will offer a range of services, from medical and procedural abortions to contraception, cervical cancer screenings and adoption counseling.

The University of New Mexico Department of Health Services says the first clinic was built in partnership with organizations including Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.

The project is intended to improve access to health care and create new educational and training opportunities outside of Albuquerque for students at the University of New Mexico Medical School, the University of New Mexico said in a statement.

In May, the public university’s board of directors approved the purchase of land for the project.

NMED, DOE reach agreement in efforts to clean up LANL waste – By Hannah Grover, New Mexico Political Report

The New Mexico Department of Environment has signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy to clean up areas surrounding the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Hannah Grover reports on the new measure for the New Mexico Political Report, which replaces a 2016 agreement that New Mexico says failed to meaningfully clean up radioactive waste around the lab.

This new agreement follows a 2021 lawsuit the state filed against the Department of Energy alleging failure to clean up the waste. In that lawsuit, the state’s Department of Environment sought to overturn the 2016 agreement and obtain court-supervised negotiations for a new one.

The Environment Ministry says it will hold public meetings with stakeholders and tribes to “explore the terms of the settlement and opportunities for engagement.” Those meetings have not yet been scheduled.

Prison scraps health monitoring bracelets over cost and technical issues – Elise Kaplan, City Office ABQ

Last year, after a noticeable spike in deaths at the state’s largest prison, the former warden reached out to a company that promised a solution: wristbands with biosensors that monitor an at-risk inmate’s vital signs and alert authorities if something is wrong.

Elise Kaplan of City Desk ABQ reports hours after City office When Metropolitan Detention Center spokesman Daniel Trujillo asked questions about the contract this week, he sent out a press release announcing that the county had canceled the contract in April, more than two years early.

He said suppliers had assured the prison that the technology would work with its current IT infrastructure, but it “could not be integrated with MDC’s prison management system.”

MDC says the bracelets relied on Bluetooth and could not maintain a reliable connection to the sensors. The battery life was two hours, making recharging impractical during prison operations. Inmates complained that the wristbands were uncomfortable. Some inmates exercised their right to opt out of the bracelet program during intake.

A spokesperson for the company that makes them, 4Sight Labs, says the company offered to replace the bands with a second-generation one, but that offer was declined.

Of the 32 people who have died in MDC custody over the past four and a half years, 17 were in the detox unit.

MLG Announces $125 Million Employee Housing Program – By Nicole Maxwell, New Mexico Political Report

The Governor has announced a new program for the development of housing for workers.

Nicole Maxwell of the New Mexico Political Report reports that Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham yesterday announced the Opportunity Enterprise Housing Development Program, which seeks to help families who might not normally qualify for affordable housing options.

The $125 million program is administered by the New Mexico Finance Authority.

According to the announcement, the program will prioritize communities where local governments want to reduce new barriers to housing. That could mean streamlining permitting and inspections, or updating land-use and zoning regulations.

The first round of financing has $30 million available.

Registrations are now open and close on October 16th.

More information can be found in the New Mexico Political Report, including a link to subscribe, at KUNM.org.