Suit claims Snapchat fails to warn about sexual content that its editors help choose
Snapchat is violating California law and the Communications Decency Act by failing to warn minors and their parents about sexually explicit content and the availability of parental controls, according to a class action lawsuit filed Thursday.
The suit targets a feature introduced last year, Snapchat Discover, that allows users to share articles and images from media partners, report Law.com (sub. req.), the Los Angeles Times and the Hollywood Reporter.
The suit says the offensive content includes articles titled “I Got High, Blown, and Robbed When I Was a Pizza Delivery Guy” and “F#ck Buddies Talk About How They Kept It Casual.”
The suit claims Snapchat doesn’t have immunity for distributing third-party material under the federal law because it “curates, directs and lends its own in-house editorial team to generate content with its media partners. …. Snapchat is not an idle or passive observer of content published by third-party publishers on Snapchat Discover. Rather it is involved in all aspects and all decisions made regarding content that is ultimately published.”
The suit was filed on behalf of a minor by lawyer Mark Geragos, who told the Los Angeles Times that the federal law violations merit a civil penalty of $50,000 a day.
A Snapchat spokesperson said the company hadn’t yet been served with the complaint, and it is sorry if people were offended. “Our Discover partners have editorial independence, which is something that we support,” the spokesperson said.
Snapchat’s user agreement bars class actions and requires arbitration of disputes, unless a user notifies the company in writing within 30 days of joining that he or she is opting out, according to the Los Angeles Times.
