The New Mexico Attorney General filed a lawsuit against Snap, accusing the company of fostering an environment that enables the sexual exploitation and sextortion of children on its Snapchat app.
CNBC Reports New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torres (Democrat) has launched a legal battle against Snap, the parent company of the popular social media app Snapchat, alleging that the app's design features and algorithmic recommendations create a “hotbed” for predators to target, lure and exploit children. The lawsuit, filed in Santa Fe County First Judicial District Court, alleges that Snapchat facilitates the exchange of illegal sexual content involving minors and enables child, drug and gun trafficking.
According to the lawsuit, Snap misled users into believing that photos and videos on Snapchat would disappear quickly. “Snap misled users into believing that photos and videos sent to its platform would disappear, but predators were able to capture this content forever — creating a virtual yearbook of child sexual images that could be traded, sold and stored indefinitely,” Trez said.
The lawsuit accuses Snap of making false representations about the safety and design of its platform, though an internal investigation refuted these allegations. The lawsuit alleges that Snap was aware of a “pervasive” and “massive” sextortion problem on its platform but failed to warn children and parents about the seriousness of the issue. The New Mexico Department of Justice alleges that the problem is so severe that children faced with relentless threatening demands and disclosure of intimate images to family and friends are being driven to suicide.
A recent investigation by the New Mexico Department of Justice uncovered a vast network of dark web sites dedicated to sharing non-consensual sexual images stolen from Snapchat, with the Department finding over 10,000 records linking Snapchat to child sexual abuse material in the last year alone.
The lawsuit alleges that Snap violated New Mexico's unfair trade practices law. The legal action follows Torres' pending lawsuit against Meta, the owner of Facebook, which also accuses the company of enabling the sexual exploitation of children. Torres emphasized the state's commitment to holding these platforms accountable for putting profits above the safety of children, stating, “Through our lawsuits against Meta and Snap, the New Mexico Department of Justice will continue to hold these platforms accountable for putting profits above the safety of children.”
Learn more CNBC is here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering free speech and online censorship.
