Pennsylvania attorney general accuses Snapchat of failing to protect children in new lawsuit

Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday (R) announced a lawsuit Tuesday, accusing Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, of failing to protect children from compulsively using its platform.

The complaint , filed this week, alleges Snapchat knowingly lies about the frequency of adult-themed material like drug use or sexual content to maintain a 13+ app rating in app stores.

“Once they have you signed up and logged in, you are officially in their clutches,” the attorney general said at a press conference Tuesday. “From there, Snapchat essentially says good luck getting out.”

Sunday said he hopes for “honesty” from Snapchat, accusing the company’s actions of violating Pennsylvania’s consumer protection laws.

“The lawsuit also demands that Snapchat finally come clean about the addictiveness of their app and takes real action to protect young users,” Sunday said. “This is a very serious legal action with the end goals of being an overhaul of how Snapchat markets and advertises its app.”

Sunday alleged Snapchat uses functions like the Snap Streak feature, which counts the number of days two users send Snaps to one another to keep users engaged. The streak is lost when one of the users does not Snap the other in 24 hours.

“We allege this streak feature puts a tangible value on friendships and influences a child’s feelings of self-worth,” he said.

Sunday also argued that Snapchat’s disappearing stories, messages and photos encourage users to post things they may typically not, like a revealing selfie.

The state prosecutor said parents do not have time to “fully explore” every platform and relies on “transparency” from companies when making decisions about their children’s social media use.

A spokesperson for Snap stated that the allegations “fundamentally misrepresent” the platform and its approach to teen safety.

“Snapchat was designed differently from the beginning: it opens to a camera, not a feed of content, and was built to encourage self-expression and authentic connection with friends,” the spokesperson told The Hill.

“We share the Attorney General’s commitment to protecting young people online and are disappointed they have chosen litigation rather than working with us toward that shared goal,” the spokesperson continued.

Sunday’s suit comes just weeks after he announced a complaint against TikTok over similar allegations .