Lawsuit Against Snapchat for Enabling Drug Dealers Moves Forward
By Movieguide® Contributor
A lawsuit from dozens of families against Snapchat will move forward in court after a California judge ruled that the parents’ complaint could continue to trial.
Over 60 families are suing Snapchat for unsafe features on the platform that enable drug dealers to contact and make deals with children in nearly untraceable ways.
“Today’s ruling marks the first time a court has allowed parents to hold social media companies accountable for facilitating the sale of deadly drugs,” Matthew P. Bergman, an attorney for the families, said after the ruling. “Fentanyl is the largest killer of kids under 18 and social media plays a huge role [in] the deadly drug sales that have resulted in a 350% increase in teen deaths over the past three years.”
“Parents who lost children to fentanyl poisoning will now be able to move forward with [the] lawsuit, [and] uncover evidence of Snapchat’s contribution to illegal drug sales and by holding Snap legally accountable spare other families the unspeakable grief they experience every day,” he continued.
The lawsuit claims that features such as automatically deleted messages, geolocation, and the My Eyes Only privacy features, which are unique to the platform, enable illegal activity that places all users at an unacceptable level of risk.
“Snap and Snapchat’s role in illicit drug sales to teens was the foreseeable result of the designs, structures, and policies Snap chose to implement to increase the revenue,” the court filing said.
“Kids are losing their lives, and [Snapchat] swept it under the rug. They had their chance to do the right thing, and they chose profits over people,” Amy Neville, the lead plaintiff, told Good Morning America. “The way that we are going to bring Snapchat and other social media companies to the table is through lawsuits and legislation. That is plain and simple.”
Snapchat has responded to the lawsuit, arguing that while the fentanyl crisis is heartbreaking, they have played no part in its proliferation amongst young people across the country.
Snap spokesperson Ashley Adams said the company is “working diligently to stop drug dealers from abusing our platform, and deploy technologies to proactively identify and shut down dealers, support law enforcement efforts to help bring just, and educate our community and the general public about the dangers of fentanyl.”
“While we are committed to advancing our effort to stop drug dealers from engaging in illegal activity on Snapchat, we believe the plaintiffs’ allegations are both legally and factually flawed and will continue to defend that position in court,” she continued.
Beyond the lawsuit against Snapchat, families are working to fight the fentanyl crisis through other legal avenues. Last month, Sammy’s Law was introduced to Congress with bipartisan support to allow third-party sources to monitor children’s social media accounts and notify parents of concerning behavior.
Movieguide® previously reported:
Dr. Laura Berman celebrated the introduction of Sammy’s Law to Congress in honor of her son who died from a drug overdose after purchasing pills laced with fentanyl on Snapchat.
The law would require platforms with minors on them to allow third-party sources to monitor children’s social media accounts and warn parents of concerning behavior.
“I had no idea that drug dealers were reaching out to my son, accessing my son and connecting with my son through Snapchat,” Berman told ABC News in an interview. “We’re doing this to save other children from Sammy’s fate and to save other families from the devastation that we have to live with every day.”
Sammy “died from a fentanyl-laced drug obtained on social media on February 7, 2021, and delivered to his home ‘like a pizza,’” Fox 11 reported.
“There can’t be justice for our 16-year-old child being murdered,” she added. “There is no justice that will make that OK. If we could change the laws, or we could somehow convince social media to do the right thing, then…I will feel the closest thing to justice that I probably can feel.”
