New Mexico accuses Snapchat of being ‘breeding ground’ for child predators

New Mexico sued Snap Inc. 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 “breeding ground” for predators to collect sexually explicit images of children and extort them.

Snapchat has become the “predominant forum” for such sextortion schemes due to the false sense of security created by ephemeral messaging and other features that connect children with predators, the lawsuit argues.

A months-long undercover investigation conducted by the New Mexico Department of Justice found a “vast network” of dark websites sharing nonconsensual images from Snapchat, including more than 10,000 records in the last year, according to a press release.

“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,” New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in a statement.

“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 added.

The state argues that Snapchat’s efforts to differentiate itself from the harms associated with other social media platforms are misleading.

“Snap may claim that Snapchat is unlike other social media, but those claims are false and knowingly so,” the filing reads. “Snap’s conduct is not only dangerously deceptive; it is unlawful.”

New Mexico is similarly suing Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, for allegedly enabling child sexual exploitation on its platforms.

A Snap spokesperson said in a statement Thursday that the company is reviewing the attorney general’s complaint and will respond to the claims in court.

“We share Attorney General Torrez’s and the public’s concerns about the online safety of young people and are deeply committed to Snapchat being a safe and positive place for our entire community, particularly for our younger users,” the spokesperson added.

“We have been working diligently to find, remove and report bad actors, educate our community, and give teens, as well as parents and guardians, tools to help them be safe online,” they continued. “We understand that online threats continue to evolve and we will continue to work diligently to address these critical issues.”

Updated at 3:25 pm.