Snapchat’s Discover feature is meant to help users discover new and interesting things on the platform, thus transforming Snapchat from being a mere messenger service to being its own social network of sorts. Unfortunately it seems that the company has been hit with a lawsuit over the Discover feature.According to the lawsuit, they claim that the Discover feature has been showing sexually explicit content which is inappropriate for minors. The lawsuit is filed by a 14-year old boy and his mother whose lawyer, Mark Geragos, claims that the company has violated the Communications Decency Act of 1996. They are also accusing Snapchat of facilitating sexting between minors due to the app’s features.
The lawsuit reads, “Millions of parents in the United States today are unaware that Snapchat is curating and publishing this profoundly sexual and offensive content to their children. By engaging in such conduct directed at minors, and making it simple and easy for users to ‘snap’ each other content from Snapchat Discover, Snapchat is reinforcing the use of its service to facilitate problematic communications, such as ‘sexting,’ between minors. Snapchat has placed profit from monetizing Snapchat Discover over the safety of children.”
In a statement Snapchat made to CNET, a spokesperson said, “We haven’t been served with a complaint in this lawsuit, but we are sorry if people were offended. Our Discover partners have editorial independence, which is something that we support.”