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A class action lawsuit filed on July 7 against Snapchat Inc., maker of the popular software app for sharing pictures and videos, accuses the company of pushing sexually explicit content on its minor users without their parents’ knowledge or permission.
The complaint states that Snapchat Discover is a “feature” of the app that publishes content from paying “media partners” to Snapchat users.
According to the complaint, “through Snapchat Discover, Snapchat is currently engaged in an insidious pattern and practice of intentionally exposing minors to harmful, offensive, prurient, and sexually offensive content, without warning minors or their parents that they would be exposed to such explicit content.”
“Millions of parents in the United States today are unaware that Snapchat is curating and publishing this profoundly sexual and offensive content to their children,” the class action contends.
The Snapchat sexual content class action lawsuit states that Snapchat Discover started in January of 2015 to provide more revenue to Snapchat and more content to its users.
The complaint cites a press release by Snapchat which says that Discover “is not social media,” and argues that Snapchat exercises direct editorial control over the content on Discover.
Recently, the Snapchat interface was revised, and Snapchat Discover is much more prominent and easier to access, according to the complaint.
The class action asserts that approximately 23 percent, or 34.5 million, of Snapchat users are minors, and are able to see “offensive, adult rated” content without warning while swiping through articles on Discover.
The class action complaint contains numerous examples of article headlines and pictures that are sexually explicit and sometimes graphic, which it states were all viewed between July 1 and July 3 of this year.
Plaintiff John Doe says he is 14 years old and a user of Snapchat. The minor plaintiff contends that he directly viewed all of the adult articles and pictures listed in the complaint, including an article from media partner Buzzfeed making sexual jokes and metaphors using pictures “of his favorite Disney characters.”
The Snapchat sexual content class action lawsuit claims that the company “has placed profit from monetizing Snapchat Discover over the safety of children,” and that its conduct violates several provisions of state and federal law.
The complaint argues that Snapchat violates the Federal Communications Decency Act by allowing minors access to harmful material, and by not informing users that parental controls are available for the service.
Moreover, the class action notes that Snapchat’s terms of service provides no warning of potentially offensive content from Snapchat Discover, and that the content on Snatchat Discover frequently violates Snapchat’s own “community guidelines” for user-posted content.
The Snapchat sexual content lawsuit requests to certify a Class of all people in the U.S. “who are or were registered users of Snapchat from January 27, 2015, through the present.”
The lawsuit also asks to certify a subclass of “all individuals between the ages of 13-17” who were registered users of Snapchat during that same time frame.
The class action seeks compensatory damages for all potential Class Members, as well as punitive damages of up to $50,000 per offense under federal law. The complaint also requests a court order stopping Snapchat from continuing its unlawful conduct.
The plaintiff is represented by Mark J. Geragos and Ben J. Meiselas of Geragos & Geragos, APC.
The Snapchat Sexual Content Class Action Lawsuit is John Doe v. Snapchat Inc., Case No. 2:16-cv-04955, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
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