Pennsylvania Attorney General Sues Snapchat Over Child Safety Concerns

Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday filed a lawsuit against Snapchat on Tuesday, claiming the popular app harms children by using design tricks that make it hard to stop using. About half of all American teens use Snapchat every single day, according to the Pew Research Center. Sunday says the company puts its profits ahead of the mental health of young users. The lawsuit was filed in Philadelphia County Court and accuses Snapchat of breaking the state's consumer protection laws.

This is not the first time Sunday has taken on a major social media company. Just two weeks ago, he filed a similar lawsuit against TikTok, and his office is already part of a multistate case against Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram. Sunday says all of these platforms use features that keep kids hooked, but he believes Snapchat has some tricks that make it especially hard to put down. He compared today's online world to the 'Wild West,' saying technology has created many dangers for children alongside its many benefits.

One of Snapchat's most well-known features is the 'streak,' which is shown as a flame symbol. A streak counts how many days in a row two friends have sent each other messages. Sunday argues that this feature pressures kids into opening the app every day just to keep their streak alive. He says Snapchat uses this to make young users feel like they need to stay on the app in order to keep their friendships strong.

Sunday also claims Snapchat lies to parents and app stores about the kind of content that appears on the platform. He says the company tells app stores that Snapchat is appropriate for users aged 13 and up, but that the app actually contains adult content like drug use and other harmful material. Parents often trust these age ratings when deciding which apps are safe for their children. Sunday says Snapchat knows this and uses it to reach a younger audience.

Another major concern in the lawsuit is Snapchat's 'disappearing' messages feature. When someone sends a photo, video, or message on Snapchat, it is set to vanish shortly after the other person sees it. Sunday says this gives kids a false sense of safety, making them think it is okay to share things they normally would not. He warned that this feature also attracts cyberbullies and predators because they feel they can act without leaving a trail.

A child psychiatrist named Dr. Gary Swanson from Allegheny Health Network agreed that social media can be very harmful to young people. He explained that children's brains are still developing, which makes them more likely to seek out the good feelings that come from likes and messages without thinking about the risks. Dr. Swanson compared social media use to smoking and drinking, saying he believes there should be age restrictions placed on it. He admitted, though, that this would be very difficult because so many kids already have access to these platforms.

Snapchat responded to the lawsuit and pushed back against Sunday's claims. A spokesperson for the company said the lawsuit 'fundamentally misrepresents' how Snapchat works and how it approaches teen safety. The spokesperson pointed out that Snapchat was built differently from other apps — it opens to a camera instead of a feed of posts, and was designed to help friends connect in an authentic way. Snapchat said it shares the attorney general's goal of keeping young people safe online, but is disappointed that Sunday chose to sue rather than work together toward that goal.

Attorney General Sunday said he is not done yet. He is pushing for Snapchat to make changes to both its design and its marketing. He also said his office will keep looking at other social media companies to see if more legal action is needed. 'Protecting children is one of the absolute priorities of my office, and we're going to continue to do so,' Sunday said.