Pennsylvania’s Attorney General, Dave Sunday, has initiated a lawsuit against Snap Inc., the company behind Snapchat. The suit, lodged in Philadelphia County Court, accuses Snap of creating an environment that hooks young users and misleads parents regarding the app’s safety and suitability for different age groups.
The lawsuit highlights several features of Snapchat, such as Snapstreaks, infinite scrolling, push notifications, autoplay, and disappearing messages. According to Pennsylvania, these elements encourage excessive usage among young people, which in turn increases advertising revenue for Snap while exposing minors to various risks.
It’s noted that Snapchat boasts millions of users within Pennsylvania, with a significant number of them under the age of 16. The complaint also points out that Snap generates substantial revenue from these users; indeed, their North American operations reportedly earned over $5.3 billion in 2024.
The suit also scrutinizes how Snapchat profits from user engagement. For instance, users can pay to revive an expired Snapstreak, which tracks consecutive days of messaging between two users. The state argues that younger users are pressured to maintain these streaks because they often correlate them with the strength of their friendships.
In a statement, Attorney General Sunday remarked, “Snapchat has designed its platform to lure children into constant, compulsive use that is detrimental to healthy adolescent development. This lawsuit demands that Snapchat finally admit publicly that its platform is highly addictive and that it takes real action to keep kids safe.”
Additionally, Pennsylvania claims that Snap misleads users about the type of content accessible to minors. The lawsuit contends that despite Snapchat receiving a 13+ rating from Apple’s App Store and a “T for Teen” rating in Google Play and Microsoft stores, these ratings don’t accurately represent the mature content available on the platform.
To illustrate this point, an investigator with the Attorney General’s office reportedly established a Snapchat account using a birth date indicating the account holder was 13 and discovered that it could access content with profanity, drug and alcohol references, and even sexual material.
In response, Snap has denied the accusations, stating that they mischaracterize the platform and its efforts towards teen safety. “Snapchat was designed differently from the beginning,” the company stated, emphasizing that it opens to a camera rather than a content feed and is focused on fostering genuine connections.
Furthermore, Snap expressed disappointment at the Attorney General’s decision to pursue litigation rather than engage cooperatively to tackle shared concerns. They reiterated their commitment to enhancing safety measures and educational resources for their users.
Pennsylvania is seeking a court ruling to declare Snap’s practices unlawful according to the state’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, which could lead to civil fines and prohibitions against similar future actions.
This lawsuit follows another recent complaint from Sunday against TikTok regarding claims of addictive features and problematic content ratings.
