The New Mexico attorney general has filed a lawsuit against Snap, accusing the company of fostering an environment on its Snapchat app that enables the sexual exploitation and sextortion of children.
CNBC reports that New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez (D) 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 “breeding ground” for predators to target, groom, and exploit children. The lawsuit, filed in the First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe County, claims that Snapchat facilitates the exchange of illicit sexual material involving minors and enables the trafficking of children, drugs, and guns.
According to the suit, Snap has misled users into believing that Snapchat pictures and videos quickly disappear. Torrez stated, “Snap has misled users into believing that photos and videos sent on their platform will disappear, but predators can permanently capture this content, and they have created a virtual yearbook of child sexual images that are traded, sold, and stored indefinitely.”
The lawsuit accuses Snap of making false public statements regarding the safety and design of its platforms, even when the company’s own internal findings contradicted these claims. The suit alleges that Snap was aware of the “rampant” and “massive” sextortion problem on its platform but failed to warn children and parents about the grave issue. The New Mexico Department of Justice claims that this problem is so severe that it has driven children facing relentless blackmail demands or the disclosure of intimate images to their families and friends to commit suicide.
Recent investigations conducted by the New Mexico Department of Justice have uncovered a vast network of dark web sites dedicated to sharing stolen, non-consensual sexual images from Snapchat. The department found more than 10,000 records related to Snapchat and child sexual abuse material in the last year alone.
The lawsuit alleges that Snap has violated New Mexico’s unfair trade practices law. This legal action follows Torrez’s pending lawsuit against Facebook owner Meta, which similarly accuses the company of enabling the sexual exploitation of children. Torrez emphasized the state’s commitment to holding these platforms accountable for prioritizing profits over children’s safety, stating, “Through our litigation against Meta and Snap, the New Mexico Department of Justice will continue to hold these platforms accountable for prioritizing profits over children’s safety.”
Read more at CNBC here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
