Snapchat do not act “rampantly” Report on child careextortion and other dangers to minors on its platform, according to a new unverified complaint against the company filed by the New Mexico attorney general.
Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed the initial complaint on September 4, but internal messages and other details were heavily redacted. Tuesday’s filing reveals internal messages between Snap Inc. employees and executives. to “further confirm that Snapchat’s harmful design features create an environment that promotes blackmail, sexual abuse, and unwanted contact from adults to minors,” Torrez said in a press release.
For example, according to the lawsuit, former safety and trust officers complained that management was “resistant” when they tried to add safety mechanisms. Staff also noted user reports of grooming and blackmail – persuading a person to send sexually explicit photos online and then threatening to make those images public unless the victim pays or participates. into sexual activities – made it to the next round. At one point, an account remained active despite 75 reports against it for mentioning “nudity, minors, and blackmail.”
Snap said in a statement that its platform is designed “with built-in safety barriers” and that the company has “made intentional design choices to make it difficult for strangers to discover minors on our services.”
“We continue to evolve our safety policies and mechanisms, from leveraging advanced technology to detect and block certain activities, to banning friends from accounts,” the company said. suspicious accounts, to cooperating with law enforcement and government agencies, among many other activities.”
According to the lawsuit, Snap knew but failed to warn parents, young users, and the public that “sextortion was a widespread, ‘massive,’ and ‘extremely disturbing’ problem on Snapchat.” .”
An internal November 2022 email from a trust and safety officer said Snapchat received “approximately 10,000” user reports of extortion each month.
“If this is true, then in my humble opinion we have an extremely worrying problem,” the email continued.
Another employee responded that it should be noted that this number may represent a “small portion of this abuse,” because users may feel embarrassed and because blackmail “is not easy to classification” when trying to report it on the website.
Torrez filed a lawsuit against Snap Inc. based in Santa Monica, California to the Santa Fe state court. In addition to sexual abuse, the lawsuit claims the company also openly encouraged child trafficking and selling illegal drugs and guns.
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