Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed a lawsuit accusing Snapchat’s operator of illegally marketing addictive design features to minors.
Under a 2024 Florida law, HB 3, social media platforms that use “addictive features” are prohibited from providing accounts to children 13 or younger and must restrict access to 14 and 15-year-olds. Snapchat utilizes several of these “addictive” features that “exploit” minors, Uthmeier alleged, including infinite scrolling, push notifications, certain personal interactive metrics such as SnapStreaks, and auto-play videos.
Uthmeier argued that Snap, Inc. had violated the law by “market[ing] Snapchat in Florida as safe for users as young as 13.”
“Despite being subject to HB 3, Snap contracts with and provides accounts to Florida users who it knows are younger than 14,” read the lawsuit filed Monday in Santa Rosa County circuit court. “It also fails to seek parental consent before contracting with and providing accounts to Florida users who it knows are 14 or 15 years old. Snap is openly and knowingly violating HB 3, and each violation constitutes an unfair and deceptive trade practice under FDUTPA [a state law known as the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act].”
In a statement on Tuesday, Uthmeier accused Snapchat of “deceiving Florida parents about the dangers children face on the app, from behavioral addictive features to allowing sexual predators and drug dealers access.”
“We cannot allow this deception to continue,” he continued. “We take the safety and security of children very seriously, and as part of our mission to make Florida the best place to raise a family, we are holding social media platforms that harm children accountable.”
During a press conference Tuesday, Uthmeier told reporters that the state’s lawsuit against Snapchat is “just the start” for Florida’s crackdown on social media.
“Kids are reacting and changing in very dangerous ways when they spend hours and hours on these platforms that are designed to be addictive,” he said.
In comments to the Washington Examiner, a Snapchat spokesperson raised concerns that the law it is accused of violating infringes on First Amendment rights while failing to “adequately address age verification” and opening Floridians up “to data protection and privacy issues.”
“We believe there are more privacy-conscious solutions to online safety and managing age verification, including at the operating system, app store, or device level,” the spokesperson added. ” In addition, there is a current challenge to the constitutionality of this law pending in Florida federal court, and we hoped that the state would allow this challenge to proceed through the proper legal process. Unfortunately, they’ve decided to file a complaint in state court in an attempt to bypass the issues that are already being heard in federal court.”
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The state also opened an investigation into online gaming platform Roblox last week, “demanding information about how the platform markets to children, sets age-verification requirements, and moderates chat rooms.”
