Texas sues Snapchat (SNAP) for 'knowingly' misrepresenting safety
Texas Attorney General (AG) Ken Paxon said on Wednesday that he is suing Snap, Inc. (SNAP) over the company's Snapchat app, alleging that the company has failed to warn parents and consumers about "inappropriate material on the platform and the app's addictive design."
According to a press release announcing the lawsuit, Paxon accuses Snapchat's creators of having "knowingly misrepresented" the safety of the platform by claiming in app stores that it was safe for children aged 12 and older.
"This was done while simultaneously frequently exposing users to dangerous and mature content that includes profanity, sexual content, nudity, and drug use," the Texas attorney general's office said in a statement.
Paxon, who is currently running in the Republican primary for US Senate, also sued TikTok last month for "deceptively promoting its app as safe for children" and sued Roblox Corporation (RBLX) in November for "flagrantly inferring state and federal online safety laws"
“I will not allow Snapchat to harm our kids by running a business designed to get Texas children addicted to a platform filled with obscene and destructive content,” Paxton said in a statement.
“Parents have a fundamental right to know the dangers of the apps their kids are using and not be lied to by Big Tech companies."
He added that the lawsuit "will hold Snapchat accountable for illegally undermining parental rights, deceiving consumers, and for putting children in danger.”
According to the complaint, Snap has claimed that the mature content on the Snapchat platform - including drugs, alcohol, nudity and profanity - appears "infrequently" and is "mild" in nature.
“Those representations are lies,” the complaint states. “The Snapchat app is rife with extremely mature content in all of those categories, which is frequently and easily accessible at the fingertips and swipes of Texas children and teenagers.”
The lawsuit also accuses Snap of designing its app to be "highly addictive, especially to children and teens" and "knowingly deceives Texas consumers about the damage its app causes to young users."
"One of the hallmark features of Snapchat is ephemeral content - content that disappears a short time after it is posted or after a user views it," the complaint said. "Ephemeral content drives addiction by causing young users to return frequently to the app or risk missing out on content that will disappear."
Snap has not yet responded to the lawsuit.
Lawsuits piling up for Snap
The company has an interactive program dedicated to digital safety that's aimed at teens, which it created with leading safety experts. The company also has a safety advisory board.
However, this is not the first time that Snap has faced legal action from state lawmakers.
The company was sued in September by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach for "deceptive practices that harm children" and Utah Governor Spencer J. Cox sued the Snap along with other state lawmakers.
He alleged that the company profits "from unconscionable design features created to addict children to the app, and facilitates illegal drug sales and sextortion."
Snap also settled a lawsuit in January that has also named tech giants Meta Platform's (META) Instagram, Alphabet's (GOOG) YouTube and ByteDance's TikTok.
The complaint was filed by a 19-year-old woman in California who claims that she developed mental health problems after becoming addicted to the social media apps.
The other tech companies have yet to settle. Snap's stock fell 4.6% on Wednesday and has dropped 38.2% so far this year.