Pennsylvania Attorney General sues Snapchat parent Snap, alleging it misrepresents adult content and fails to protect children

Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday (R) announced on Tuesday that his office has filed a lawsuit against Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, alleging the platform failed to protect children from compulsive use and from recurring access to adult-themed content. The complaint was filed this week, according to The Hill, as part of a state effort to challenge how the company presents information and manages content and user experience for younger audiences.

Sunday’s suit alleges that Snap knowingly misrepresents the frequency of adult-themed material on the Snapchat platform, including content tied to drug use and sexual content, in a way that the attorney general says is used to maintain the app’s “13+” rating. The complaint characterizes the company’s disclosures about what minors encounter as inaccurate, The Hill reported, and links those disclosures to the continued availability of Snapchat to users the company markets for teenage use.

The lawsuit also focuses on what Sunday’s office describes as compulsive use. In the complaint filed this week, the attorney general argues that Snapchat’s design and content moderation choices do not adequately protect children, even while the platform is presented as suitable for a younger user base through its rating. The Hill’s report describes the suit as raising questions about what Snap knew and how the company acted as the platform continued to serve young users.

The case centers on the state’s authority to pursue legal remedies against companies it alleges fall short of legal obligations related to consumer protection and child safety. Sunday’s office is seeking court action that would address the conduct alleged in the complaint, The Hill reported, with the suit framing Snap’s behavior as both deceptive in disclosures and insufficient in safeguards for children.

In addition to challenging Snap’s statements about content frequency, the complaint ties the alleged misinformation to specific categories of content, including drug-related and sexual material. By highlighting those categories, the attorney general’s filing, as described by The Hill, aims to establish that the company’s rating and representations do not match the experience minors allegedly encounter in practice.

Snap and Snapchat were not described in the provided reporting in terms of a formal response, and no court decision has been reported as of the announcement. The next step for the lawsuit will be litigation in the court where the complaint was filed, including any motions and the exchange of evidence about what Snap knew, what it represented, and what safeguards were in place for underage users.