Details from New Mexico’s lawsuit against show website Snap’s failure to respond to reports of sextortion

Snapchat failed to respond to “frequent” reports of child grooming, sextortion and other dangers to minors on its platform, according to a recent unredacted complaint against the company filed by the New Mexico attorney general.

Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed the original complaint on September 4, but internal messages and other details were heavily redacted. Tuesday’s filing reveals internal communications from Snap Inc. employees and executives that “provide further confirmation that Snapchat’s harmful design features create an environment that promotes sextortion, sexual abuse and unwanted contact between adults and minors,” it said Torres in a press release.

For example, former trust and security employees complained that management “rejected” them when they tried to add security mechanisms, the lawsuit says. Employees also found that user reports of grooming and sextortion — convincing a person to send explicit photos online and then threatening to publish the images unless the victim pays money or provides sexual favors — fell through the cracks. At one point, one account remained active despite receiving 75 complaints against him for mentioning “naughtiness, minors, and blackmail.”

Snap said in a statement that its platform was designed “with safety guardrails built in” and that the company “made conscious design decisions to make it more difficult for strangers to discover minors on our service.”

“We are constantly evolving our security mechanisms and policies, from using advanced technology to detect and block certain activities, to banning friendships with suspicious accounts, to cooperating with law enforcement and government agencies, and more,” the company said.

According to the lawsuit, Snap was well aware, but failed to warn parents, young users and the public, that “sextortion was a widespread, ‘massive’ and ‘incredibly concerning’ problem on Snapchat.”

An internal email from a November 2022 trust and safety official said Snapchat receives “around 10,000” user reports of sextortion every month.

“If this is true, in my humble opinion we are dealing with a very concerning problem,” the email continued.

Another employee responded that it was worth noting that the number likely represented a “small fraction of this abuse” because users may be embarrassed and because sextortion is “not easy to categorize” when trying to report it on the site .

Torrez filed the lawsuit against Snap Inc., based in Santa Monica, California, in state court in Santa Fe. The lawsuit alleges that in addition to sexual abuse, the company openly promotes child trafficking and the sale of illegal drugs and weapons.