- New Mexico sued Snap on Thursday, accusing the Snapchat maker of facilitating child sexual exploitation on its platform.
- The lawsuit argues that Snapchat has become the “primary forum” for such sextortion schemes.
OUR TAKE
The lawsuit is likely to push Snap to re-examine and strengthen child protection measures on its platform, and for social media platforms, it’s a reminder of the need to continuously invest resources and effort to ensure their services don’t become a hotbed for illegal activity, especially when it comes to protecting children and teens.
— Iydia Ding, BTW reporter
What happened
New Mexico sued Snapchat on Thursday, accusing the Snapchat maker of facilitating child sexual exploitation on its platform. The state alleges that Snapchat, known for its disappearing images and messages, has become a platform for predators to collect child pornography images and blackmail them, and that Snapchat has become a “primary forum” for such sextortion schemes because ephemeral messages and other features that link children to predators create a false sense of security.
According to a press release, a months-long undercover investigation by the New Mexico Department of Justice uncovered a “vast network” of dark sites sharing non-consensual images from Snapchat, including more than 10,000 records from last year.
“Our undercover investigation revealed that Snapchat’s harmful design features created an environment where predators could easily target children through sextortion schemes and other forms of sexual abuse,” New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torres said in a statement.
“Snap misled users into believing that photos and videos sent on its platform would disappear, but predators could permanently capture that content, and they created a virtual yearbook of child sexual images that were traded, sold, and stored indefinitely,” Torres added.
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Why it’s important
The lawsuit is likely to push Snap to review and strengthen child protection measures on its platform, including but not limited to improving content monitoring systems, making user reporting mechanisms more efficient, and strengthening cooperation with law enforcement agencies. It could also spark a broader debate about how to balance user privacy rights with platforms’ responsibility to protect minors.
For social media platforms, this is a reminder of the need to continuously invest resources and efforts to ensure that their services do not become a breeding ground for illegal activity, especially when it comes to protecting children and young people. This could include adopting more advanced technology to identify and filter inappropriate content, as well as increasing oversight of user behavior.
It is important to note that Snap Inc. will likely defend itself against these allegations and may take steps to refute the points raised in the lawsuit. At the same time, the outcome of the lawsuit could have a long-term impact on the social media industry’s regulatory policies and child protection measures.
