AG James Uthmeier announces lawsuit against Snapchat, citing need to protect children from alleged predation

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Attorney General James Uthmeier announced on Tuesday that he is cracking down on alleged predation facilitated by major social media platform Snapchat. Uthmeier said he filed a lawsuit Monday night against Snapchat, based on the dangerous practices he believes it has in operating its company. 

The AG promised the lawsuit is "just the beginning" of actions against "problematic platforms."

‘There are sick people out there’

What they're saying:

Uthmeier said he is filing the lawsuit over the company "knowingly and willingly breaking Florida statute, enshrined in last year’s HB3 and the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act."

"We take the safety and security of children very seriously, and as part of our mission to make Florida the best place to raise a family, we are holding social media platforms that harm children accountable," he said. "Snap is deceiving Florida parents about the dangers children face on the app, from behavioral addictive features to allowing sexual predators and drug dealers access, and we cannot allow this deception to continue."

Uthmeier’s lawsuit states that rather than obeying Florida law, Snapchat is actively deceiving parents about the risks associated with using the platform.

Uthmeier claims there are other dangers faced by minors on the app that Snap Inc. fails to address in violation of the law, including exposing minors to harmful content that includes profanity, alcohol, tobacco, drugs, sexual content, nudity and mature or suggestive themes. The legal action also notes the ease with which online predators or drug dealers can contact minors.

"Snap Inc. has acknowledged in other litigation that it is subject to HB 3, yet is openly defying Florida law," Uthmeier says. "Snap continues to market Snapchat in Florida as safe for users as young as 13, even though it knows that Snapchat can be easily used to access pornography and buy drugs, among many other dangers."

What is HB 3?

The backstory:

Passed by the legislature last year and signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis, HB 3 identifies five addictive design features that some social media platforms use to promote behavioral addiction and compulsive use. Uthmeir says Snapchat utilizes four of the five features:

• Infinite scrolling
• Push notifications
• Personal interactive metrics that indicate the number of times other users have clicked a button to reveal their reaction to content or have shared or reposed content
• Auto-play videos

The law also prohibits covered social media platforms that deploy those features from contracting with and providing accounts to people who the apps know are 13 years of age or younger. 

HB 3 requires that platforms obtain parental consent before contracting with and providing accounts to people who are 14 or 15 years old.

Is Uthmeier the first AG to file a lawsuit against Snapchat?

Dig deeper:

In September 2024, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez also filed a lawsuit against Snap Inc. 

He said the lawsuit was "to protect children from sextortion, sexual exploitation and harm." 

In the lawsuit, the New Mexico Department of Justice describes how "Snapchat’s policies, seemingly ephemeral content and recommendation algorithm foster the sharing of child sexual abuse material and facilitate child sexual exploitation."

Snap said in a statement that its platform was designed "with built-in safety guardrails" and that the company made "deliberate design choices to make it difficult for strangers to discover minors on our service."

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