How dare he speak ill of Mark. Zuckerberg is a great humanitarian.
Snap chief Evan Spiegel touted research that claimed the platform does not adversely impact mental health like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, in a letter to staff released publicly on Tuesday.
Snapchat was sued for allowing 'sextortion' and sexual abuse targeted at children
The photo messaging platform's algorithms and policies facilitate the sharing of child sexual abuse material, the New Mexico AG said
By Rocio Fabbro, Quartz Media
PublishedYesterday
The New Mexico Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Snap, the parent company of popular photo messaging app Snapchat, Thursday over features that allegedly foster sexual abuse.
Despite presenting itself as a safe alternative to other social media sites, the platform has become a primary social media platform for sharing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and for criminals targeting minors through “sextortion,” the state DOJ alleged. Sextortion, as defined by the FBI, describes when adults coerce minors into sending explicit images online.
“Our undercover investigation revealed that Snapchat’s harmful design features create an environment where predators can easily target children through sextortion schemes and other forms of sexual abuse,” said Attorney General Raúl Torrez in a statement.
The lawsuit alleges that Snapchat’s algorithms and policies, including its claims that photos and videos sent via the platform disappear forever once they are opened, facilitate child sexual exploitation and sextortion.
“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,” Torrez said.
Snap chief Evan Spiegel touted research that claimed the platform does not adversely impact mental health like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, in a letter to staff released publicly on Tuesday.
“This doesn’t mean that bad things can’t happen when people use Snapchat,” Spiegel added. “That’s why we’ve invested hundreds of millions of dollars in our trust and safety teams over the past several years and designed our service to help keep people safe by moderating content and only allowing people to communicate with the friends they’ve selected.”
But an undercover investigation by the New Mexico DOJ found that some of these safeguards may be falling short. The DOJ found more than 10,000 records related to Snap and CSAM in the last year alone, including information related to minors younger than 13 being sexually assaulted, the department said.
In severe cases, sextortion has driven teens and children to suicide. From October 2021 to March 2023, the FBI received over 13,000 reports of online financial sextortion of minors, resulting in at least 20 suicides.
In April 2023, a 13-year-old boy from South Carolina ended his life after he became a victim of a sextortion scheme on Snapchat. His mother is suing the platform.
Last December, Torrez’s office sued Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, and the company’s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, for allegedly exposing children to sexual exploitation and mental health harm after carrying out a similar investigation. A judge denied Meta’s motion to dismiss the request in May.
“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,” Torrez said.
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