New Mexico Attorney General Raùl Torrez has worked towards making social media safer during his tenure against companies including X, Snap and Meta, Facebook’s parent company.
This includes lawsuits including against Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, that allege the company knew about and ignored red flag issues such as failing to verify user ages, admitting that the service connects adults with minors, sextortion and other infringements.
Torrez’ unredacted complaint against Snap, Inc was made public Oct. 1.
“This filing is further confirmation that Snapchat’s harmful design features create an environment that fosters sextortion, sexual abuse and unwanted contact from adults to minors,” Torrez said in a press release. “It is disheartening to see that Snap employees have raised many red flags that have continued to be ignored by executives. What is even more disturbing is that unredacted information shows that the addicting features on Snapchat were blatantly acknowledged and encouraged to remain active on the platform. I will always work to hold companies, like Snap and Meta, accountable to create a safer user experience.”
Details from the unredacted complaint include how Snapchat allowed gun and drug sales on the platform and that minors were receiving unsolicited communications or were catfished.
“The complaint notes that the ‘Quick Add’ feature has had dangerous results in New Mexico,” the press release states. “In 2023, Alejandro Marquez plead guilty and was sentenced to 18 years in prison after the Albuquerque Police Department confirmed he raped an 11-year-old girl he met through Snapchat’s ‘Quick Add’ feature and messaged her on the platform.”
The current lawsuit against Snap is another way Torrez worked to hold social media companies accountable for criminal things happening on their platforms, the press release stated.
Last December, Torrez sued Meta following his office’s child exploitation investigation. That case is ongoing in First Judicial Court with discovery conferences held in September and more in January and February.
The New Mexico Department of Justice created a resource page for teens and parents to help them navigate social media platforms and avoid dangers that can affect them.