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Snapchat is the app of choice for criminals targeting kids for sextortion or child sexual abuse material (CSAM), New Mexico Attorney General Ra\u00fal Torrez alleges in a new lawsuit<\/a> filed against the app\u2019s owner, Snap.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The suit accuses Snap of violating New Mexico law against unfair practices and public nuisance based on design elements like its \u201cdisappearing\u201d messages and alleged failure to police predators. \u201cSnap has misled users into believing that photos and videos sent on their platform will disappear,\u201d Torrez said in a statement. \u201cBut predators can permanently capture this content and they have created a virtual yearbook of child sexual images that are traded, sold, and stored indefinitely.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Torrez\u2019s office ran an undercover investigation similar to an earlier one it carried out against Meta, who it similarly sued for creating a \u201cmarketplace for predators.\u201d<\/a> In the investigation, Torrez\u2019s office created a decoy Snapchat account that looked like it belonged to a 14-year-old named Heather. That account messaged other Snapchat profiles with names like \u201cchild.rape\u201d and \u201cpedo_lover10,\u201d according to the attorney general\u2019s office, which said several of the accounts tried to persuade the decoy into sharing CSAM.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Snap\u2019s claims that its app is \u201cmore private\u201d and \u201cless permanent\u201d\u00a0than other social media apps is misleading, the attorney general alleges. While the app\u2019s disappearing message feature may lead kids and teens to believe their photos are ephemeral, the attorney general claims they\u2019re easily and frequently captured by predators. Torrez\u2019s office said it found more than 10,000 records related to Snap and CSAM on the dark web in 2023 and added that \u201cSnapchat was by far the largest source of images and videos among the dark web sites investigated.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Torrez is repeating a strategy that has so far yielded success in his litigation against Meta by targeting the design of Snapchat\u2019s product and thereby (in theory) avoiding some thornier questions about speech. Torrez says that Snapchat\u2019s design features, including its disappearing messages and \u201cQuick Add\u201d button that let predators message minors, help make it \u201ca primary platform used by criminals to carry out sextortion.\u201d In the suit against Meta, a judge said the complaint could not be dismissed on the grounds of Section 230<\/a>, the legal liability shield that protects tech platforms from being held responsible for their users\u2019 speech.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals also recently handed down a legal victory for suits based on misleading product claims. It allowed a lawsuit to proceed against a Snapchat-based anonymous messaging app called Yolo<\/a>, saying the app had falsely promised it would expose the accounts of harassing users.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In this Snap lawsuit, Torrez is asking the court to order the company to stop its allegedly illegal behavior, pay penalties, and disgorge any unjustly obtained profits. Snap did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n