Most recently, a teenage girl initiated a class-action lawsuit against Snapchat which alleges its designers have done nothing to protect against the sexual exploitation of girls using its service. Sexting has also been an issue of multiple lawsuits. It also cut off friend-finding apps that had encouraged users to share their personal information with strangers - a common avenue for child predators to reach younger, vulnerable Snapchat users.
They claim that Snap’s platform helped facilitate online bullying, which has since led the company to revamp its policies and limit access to its developer tools. As a result, Snap has been the subject of multiple lawsuits from grieving parents whose teens committed suicide. That said, parents’ concern over Snapchat isn’t limited to fears of unwanted contact between teens and potentially dangerous adults.Īt its core, Snapchat’s disappearing messages feature makes it easier for teens to engage in bullying, abuse and other inappropriate behavior, like sexting. In addition, teenage users only show up as “Suggested Friends” or in search results when they have mutual friends in common with the user on the app, which also limits their exposure. Friend lists are private and teens aren’t allowed to have public profiles.
By default, teens have to be mutual friends to begin communicating - so there’s a reduced risk of them receiving unwanted messages from potential predators.