SNAP says the basis of one bitter lawsuit Suggesting that it systematically recommends teen accounts to child predators is backwards — the company is now accusing the New Mexico Attorney General of deliberately seeking out such accounts before making recommendations. The company says the AG's case is based on “gross misrepresentations” and selective facts from Snap's internal documents.
In a motion to dismiss filed Thursday, SNAP says AG Raul Torrez's complaint makes “patently false” allegations, and specifically misrepresents its own undercover investigation, in which the AG's office Had created a 14 year old fake account. Torrez alleged that Snap violated state unfair practices and public nuisance laws by misleading users about its security and ephemerality. “Missing” messageWhich they say has helped abusers to collect and maintain exploitative images of minors.
But Snap claims that, contrary to the way the state has described it, it was investigators who discovered “clearly targeted usernames such as 'nudedude_22,' 'teenxxxxxxx06,' 'ineedasugardadx,' and 'xxx_tradehot' from the decoy account. 'But I sent a friend request.'
And Snap says it was actually the government's decoy account that discovered and added an account called “Enzo (Nud15Ans)” — which allegedly asks the decoy to send anonymous messages through the end-to-end encrypted service. was – rather than the reverse, as the State alleges. The state claims that after connecting with Enzo, “Snapchat suggested more than 91 users, including several adult users whose accounts contained or sought to exchange sexually explicit material.”
Snap also says the state “repeatedly misrepresented” its internal documents, including blaming Snap for “not storing child sexual abuse images” and suggesting that it Failed to provide them to law enforcement. In fact, according to Snap, it is not allowed to store child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on its servers under federal law, and says it will “definitely” report any such material to the National Center for Missing and Compulsorily hands over exploited children.
Lauren Rodriguez, communications director for the New Mexico Justice Department, says Snap wants to dismiss the case “to avoid accountability for the serious harm its platform causes children.” In a statement, she says, “The evidence we have presented – including internal documents and the findings of our investigation – clearly demonstrates that Snap knew about the threats on its platform for a long time and that it took action.” Has failed to do. Instead of addressing these important issues with real changes to its algorithms and design features, Snap continues to profit over children's safety.
We consider SNAP's focus on minor details of the investigation an attempt to distract from the serious issues raised in the State's case. We will address these matters through appropriate court filings. The harms outlined in our complaint remain a serious concern, as young Snapchat users face the same risks outlined in our case.
The company is seeking to dismiss the lawsuit on several grounds, including that the state is attempting to mandate age verification and parental controls in a way that violates the First Amendment and Legal Liability Shield Section 230. should stop the trial.
Snap also says the AG's claims that Snap allegedly misrepresented its services are based on “puffery-based 'catchphrases' (e.g., Snapchat is a 'worry-free' platform) and security concerns.” Snap's commitment is centered around ambitious statements, none of which remotely guarantee that Snap will eliminate (much less) all potential risks posed by third parties.
Update, November 21: Added an additional statement from Rodriguez.