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Snap says the basis of a scathing lawsuit<\/a> suggesting it systematically recommends teens\u2019 accounts to child predators is backwards \u2014 the company is now accusing the New Mexico attorney general of intentionally seeking out such accounts before recommendations were made. The company says the AG\u2019s case is based on \u201cgross misrepresentations\u201d and cherry picks from Snap\u2019s internal documents. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n In a motion to dismiss filed Thursday, Snap says AG Ra\u00fal Torrez\u2019s complaint makes \u201cpatently false\u201d allegations, and particularly misrepresents its own undercover investigation, in which the AG\u2019s office created a decoy 14-year-old account. Torrez alleges Snap violated the state\u2019s unfair practices and public nuisance laws by misleading users\u2019 about the safety and ephemerality of its \u201cdisappearing\u201d messages<\/a>, which he says have enabled abusers to collect and retain exploitative images of minors. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n But Snap claims that contrary to the way the state described it, investigators were the ones who sent friend requests from the decoy account \u201cto obviously targeted usernames like \u2018nudedude_22,\u2019 \u2018teenxxxxxxx06,\u2019 \u2018ineedasugardadx,\u2019 and \u2018xxx_tradehot.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n And Snap says it was actually the government\u2019s decoy account that searched for and added an account called \u201cEnzo (Nud15Ans)\u201d \u2014 which allegedly went on to ask the decoy to send anonymous messages through an end-to-end encrypted service \u2014 rather than the reverse, as the state alleges. The state claims that after connecting with Enzo, \u201cSnapchat suggested over 91 users, including numerous adult users whose accounts included or sought to exchange sexually explicit content.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Snap also says the state \u201crepeatedly mischaracterizes\u201d its internal documents, including blaming Snap for choosing \u201cnot to store child sex abuse images\u201d and suggesting it failed to provide them to law enforcement. In reality, according to Snap, it\u2019s not allowed to store child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on its servers under federal law, and says it \u201cof course\u201d turns any such content over to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as mandated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Lauren Rodriguez, director of communications for the New Mexico Department of Justice, says Snap wants to dismiss the case to \u201cto avoid accountability for the serious harm its platform causes to children.\u201d In a statement, she says, \u201cThe evidence we have presented\u2014including internal documents and findings from our investigation\u2014clearly demonstrates that Snap has long known about the dangers on its platform and has failed to act. Rather than addressing these critical issues with real change to their algorithms and design features, Snap continues to put profits over protecting children.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The company is seeking to dismiss the lawsuit on several grounds, including that the state is attempting to mandate age verification and parental controls that violate the First Amendment and that the legal liability shield Section 230 should block the suit. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Snap also says that the AG\u2019s claims of Snap\u2019s alleged misrepresentation of its services is centered around \u201cpuffery-based \u2018catchphrases\u2019 (e.g., that Snapchat is a \u2018worry-free\u2019 platform) and aspirational statements regarding Snap\u2019s commitment to safety, neither of which remotely guarantees that Snap would (much less could) extinguish all potential risks posed by third parties.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n