Snapchat is being sued for exposing minors to what’s been called “harmful, offensive, prurient, and sexually offensive” content without warning in Discover, the section of its app where publishers like BuzzFeed and Vice share stories exclusively designed for the service.
Celebrity attorney Mark Geragos filed a class-action lawsuit against the social media app on behalf of a 14-year-old boy from Los Angeles, whom the lawsuit refers to as John Doe, claiming that publishers are sharing content that parents would likely prohibit if they knew their children were being given unrestricted access.
The complaint highlights stories like Buzzfeed’s “23 Pictures That Are Too Real If You’ve Ever had Sex With A Penis,” (illustrated with scenes from Disney animated movies) and Vice’s “Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Penis Tattoos.”
“Innocent pictures from John’s favorite Disney movies were perverted into obscene sexual images and text,” the complaint states.
Mixed with that type of content, it says, are messages from Snapchat which say things like, “If They Don’t Snap You On A Daily Basis It Isn’t Real.”
And those are some of the more tame examples given in the lawsuit.
The entire complaint is posted here.
Snapchat, which allows users to send photos and videos that disappear, has been looked upon warily and often with outright fear by parents. It frequently gets accused of promoting sexting among teens. But the lawsuit suggests while parents may be aware of the dangers Snapchat direct messaging poses, they are not aware of the explicit content being shared on Discover by media outlets, without any warning or age verification.
“Although Snapchat claims to have pivoted away from its founding roots which included promoting surreptitious ‘sexting’ with disappearing text and images, the content Snapchat develops and curates on Snapchat Discover paints a different and dangerous picture,” the lawsuit says.
Snapchat Discover was created in 2015 as a place where handpicked media outlets share content designed for Snapchat. The lawsuit says, “Snapchat exercises direct control over its editorial content and what is published.”
The suit claims Snapchat has violated the Communication Decency Act, which requires internet computer services like Snapchat to notify customers that parental control protections are available. Snapchat’s terms of service does say that its app is restricted to users older than 13 years old. It does not warn against potential offensive content found on Snapchat Discover.
“We haven’t been served with a complaint in this lawsuit, but we are sorry if people were offended,” a Snapchat spokesperson said in a statement. “Our Discover partners have editorial independence, which is something that we support.”
Snapchat is wildly popular among teens. About 23% (or 34.5 million) of Snapchat’s users are between the ages of 13 and 17.
Source: MarketWatch
