Snapchat failed to take action against ‘rampant’ child care reportssextortion and other dangers to minors on its platform, according to a new, unredacted complaint against the company filed by the New Mexico attorney general.
Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed the original complaint on September 4, but internal messages and other details were heavily redacted. Tuesday’s filing reveals internal messages among Snap Inc. employees and executives. which “provide further confirmation that Snapchat’s harmful design features create an environment that promotes sextortion, sexual abuse, and unwanted contact between adults and minors,” Torrez said in a press release.
For example, former trust and safety employees complained that there was “pushback” from management when they tried to add safety mechanisms, the lawsuit said. Staff also noted that user reports of “grooming” and “sextortion” (convincing someone to post explicit photos online and then threatening to make the images public unless the victim pays money or provides sexual favors) fell through the cracks . At one point, an account remained active despite 75 counter-reports for mentions of “nudes, minors and extortion.”
Snap said in a statement that its platform is designed “with built-in safety guards” and that the company has “made conscious design choices to make it difficult for strangers to discover minors on our service.”
“We continue to evolve our security mechanisms and policies, from deploying advanced technology to detect and block certain activities, to banning friendships with suspicious accounts, to working with law enforcement and government agencies, and much more,” said the company.
According to the lawsuit, Snap was well aware but failed to warn parents, young users and the public that “sextortion was a widespread, ‘large-scale’ and ‘incredibly concerning problem’ on Snapchat.”
A November 2022 internal email from a trust and safety officer says Snapchat received “approximately 10,000” user reports of sextortion each month.
“If this is true, then in my humble opinion we have an incredibly concerning issue,” the email continues.
Another employee responded that it’s worth noting that this number likely represents a “small portion of this abuse” because users may feel embarrassed and because sextortion is “not easy to categorize” when posting it on try to report the site.
Torrez has filed the lawsuit against Santa Monica, California-based Snap Inc. filed in state court in Santa Fe. In addition to sexual abuse, the lawsuit alleges that the company also openly promotes child trafficking sale of illegal drugs and guns.