Arkansas Sues Snapchat

Attorney General Griffin Sues Snap, Inc. for Putting Minors at Risk and Deceiving Parents about Protections for Kids

Griffin: ‘Snap built its fortune on messages that disappear without a trace. But the permanent damage to Arkansas children—and Snap’s responsibility for that damage—will not fade away’

LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin has filed a lawsuit against Snap, Inc. (Snap), the parent company of the popular social media platform Snapchat. The lawsuit seeks to hold Snap accountable for engaging in deceptive and unconscionable trade practices, creating a public nuisance that is negatively impacting the health and safety of Arkansans, and unjustly enriching itself at the expense of the health and wellbeing of Arkansas kids. Griffin issued the following statement:

“Snapchat is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world and is especially popular among teens. Millions of minors, including thousands of kids in Arkansas, use the platform every day. In building its platform, which includes core features such as disappearing messages, cosmetic filters, and curated content, Snap exposed minors to a variety of foreseeable harms. These harms have included sextortion rings, predatory grooming, violent content, illegal drug marketplaces, unrealistic beauty standards, and an untested My AI chatbot that delivers dangerous and inappropriate advice.

“These dangers were amplified by some of Snapchat’s core features like disappearing messages and automatically vanishing content. Such features gave kids the illusion of protection and facilitated them making impulsive decisions about what to share online.

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“Because of key features that Snap designed, predators, traffickers, drug dealers, extortionists, and other offenders have repeatedly used Snapchat to contact, groom, monitor, and coerce children. These threats are not abstract or theoretical. Arkansas law enforcement, parents, and educators have consistently identified Snapchat as a primary tool used by adults seeking to exploit minors.

“These design features also replicated the kind of dopamine feedback loops present in slot-machine mechanics, pushing young people to stay on the platform to chase the next dopamine hit. And none of this was by accident. Snap’s design choices were calculated to leverage the developmental vulnerabilities of minors. Snapchat’s designers exploited teens’ craving for social approval, their sensitivity to exclusion, and their susceptibility to impulse-driven reward systems. Snap knowingly built its platform to create addiction in our children to maximize profits over people, all the while marketing Snapchat to parents as being safe and ‘family-friendly.’

“The harm to teens is bad enough, but Snapchat hasn’t even effectively enforced its own age restriction, meaning children under the age of 13 are being exposed to addictive features and lurking threats. Snapchat’s age-verification system relies entirely on self-reported birthdays with guardrails that any child with a cursory understanding of online systems can bypass.

“With this lawsuit, I am seeking to hold Snap accountable and am seeking all remedies available, including, but not limited to, injunctive relief, civil penalties, damages, restitution, and abatement. Snap built its fortune on messages that disappear without a trace. But the permanent damage to Arkansas children—and Snap’s responsibility for that damage—will not fade away. Snap must answer for these harms.”

To read a copy of the lawsuit, click here.

About Attorney General Tim Griffin

Tim Griffin was sworn in as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas on January 10, 2023, having previously served as the state’s 20th Lieutenant Governor from 2015-2023. From 2011-2015, Griffin served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District, where he served on the House Committee on Ways and Means, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Ethics and House Committee on the Judiciary while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority.

Griffin is currently an officer in the Arkansas Army National Guard and holds the rank of colonel. Griffin served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for more than 28 years. In 2005, Griffin was mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq.

His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana; the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; and as a Senior Legislative Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon. Griffin earned a master’s degree in strategic studies as a Distinguished Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

Griffin also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush; Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas; Senior Investigative Counsel, Government Reform and Oversight Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; and Associate Independent Counsel, Office of Independent Counsel David M. Barrett, In re: HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.

Griffin is a graduate of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, and Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He attended graduate school at Oxford University. He is admitted to practice law in Arkansas (active) and Louisiana (inactive). Griffin lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.