Utah files lawsuit against Snapchat, alleging harm to children

SALT LAKE CITY — The state of Utah is filing another lawsuit against a social media company. This time, the target is Snapchat’s parent company, Snap Inc. It’s the state’s fourth lawsuit aimed at protecting kids; the first two were against TikTok, and the third was against Meta.

The lawsuit alleges the app is profiting off the exploitation of children, failing to protect them and intentionally getting them addicted. 

Margaret Woolley Busse, the executive director for the Utah Department of Commerce, said the app purposely misrepresents safety features to get a thumbs up from parents.

“There is so much harmful material, including CSAM, illicit drugs, pornography, enabling of sexual predators, which we’ve had incidents of here in Utah, and then they claim it’s safe,” Woolley Busse said. “They are not putting on the kinds of safeguards that we would expect if they were truly trying to protect our kids.” 

The lawsuit claims features like “Quick Add” and “Snap Maps” are especially dangerous, inviting strangers to become friends with users on the app, thus revealing their location. 

There are also health concerns related to the use of the app. The lawsuit alleges the addictive features can affect physical health, cutting into sleep schedules.

But, there seems to be even more emotional and mental health concerns.

Aside from bullying, the lawsuit raises concerns about beauty standards. The different filters available can promote negative comparisons and promote unattainable beauty standards, leading to body dysmorphia and low self-esteem. 

One of Snapchat’s newest features is a personal AI chatbot powered by OpenAI. The lawsuit claims the app does not have the proper safety guardrails to have such an advanced feature.

The lawsuit detailed different investigations where the chatbot was giving inappropriate advice to children, including advising a 15-year-old how to hide alcohol and drugs from a parent, and suggesting ways to seduce an adult to a 13-year-old. 

“What we’re asking in this lawsuit is for Snap to simply stop doing these behaviors. Stop having these features in their products that they know are harmful to kids,” Woolley Busse said. “Why are they continuing to push a product that is actively harming kids, and they know it is? So either they fundamentally don’t care about our kids at all, or the exploitation, the deception, is so innate to their business model that they simply cannot let go of it.” 

Snapchat responded to KSL’s request for a statement with the following: 

Snap has no higher priority than the safety of Snapchatters. We are committed to making Snapchat a safe and fun environment for our community, and have built privacy and safety features into our service from the start.  Last year, a social media law passed in Utah was preliminarily enjoined after the court ruled it was likely unconstitutional, violating the First Amendment’s protection of free speech. Now, unable to accept the court’s rejection of the state’s legislation, the Utah Attorney General is resorting to civil litigation as a means to circumvent the court and impose age verification requirements and age-related restrictions in ways that are unconstitutional.”