Lawsuit: Kids addicted, unsafe using Snapchat

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(The Center Square) – Kids using Snapchat may fall prey to its addictive qualities or come into contact with predators, according to a new lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.

And, the app’s parent company, Snap, should be more honest about it, said Attorney General Dave Sunday.

“This is a very serious legal action with the end goals of being an overhaul of how Snapchat markets and advertises its app, design changes to discourage compulsive use, and safeguards so that families can decide what their children can access online,” he said.

Snapchat’s distinction from other social media apps sued by Sunday, including TikTok, is the ephemeral nature of photos, videos and text messages, called “snaps.” By design, the content disappears after 24 hours, leading children as young as 13 into a false sense of security, he said. It also emboldens predators' "deviant" behaviors.

“Try as Snapchat might to make users believe that ‘gone’ means gone,” Sunday said. “We all know that once something is sent or posted on the internet, it is never truly gone. But do our kids know that? And if they do, can they fully grasp the ramifications of that? A simple screenshot can turn what they thought was a temporary photo into a permanent nightmare.”

In a 49-page complaint filed with the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, the attorney general’s office said users open the app an average of 30 times daily. Frequent users are given higher “snap scores,” further drawing teens onto the app for longer periods of time.

“The more I am on Snap, the more friends I will have, and the more socially accepted I will be,” Sunday said of the potential thought process running through a teenage user’s mind. “That exploits the fear of missing out culture to the absolute extreme.”

Sen. Tracy Pennycuick, R-Red Hill, has been a vocal critic of unfettered use of social media on teens’ health and safety. She’s sponsored two new laws that increase penalties for AI-generated “deep fakes” depicting child sexual abuse material.  She and Sunday also spearheaded a task force to investigate identify emerging dangers and brainstorm further protections.

“Pennsylvania has a responsibility to act,” she said. “The digital age has created extraordinary opportunities, but it's also given bad actors and sometimes the platforms themselves unprecedented access to our children.”

First-term Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro said in December that he supports “digital literacy” for children, rather than outright social media bans. His administration has also pushed stricter regulation of AI chatbots, especially among children.

In June, the governor’s office sued Character.AI, claiming the company passed off its AI chatbot as a licensed medical professional to child users.

“We know we can’t trust big tech to look out for the best interests of our kids,” he said. “I say that not just as a Governor, but as a dad. And as elected leaders, it’s our responsibility to hold these bad actors accountable."