Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed suit against Snap Inc., alleging the company misled parents about the safety of Snapchat while exposing minors to sexual content, drug activity, profanity, and addictive design features.
The lawsuit, filed in Collin County district court, accuses Snap of violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act.
According to the petition, Snap markets Snapchat in Apple’s App Store as “12+” and characterizes content involving profanity, sexual material, nudity, drugs, and alcohol as “infrequent/mild.”
The state alleges those representations are false, citing an investigation in which a 13-year-old test account was able to readily access explicit sexual material, graphic profanity, drug-related content, and suicide-themed videos.
The lawsuit also challenges Snapchat’s design features, including “Snapstreaks,” infinite scrolling, autoplay videos, push notifications, and disappearing messages. The state argues these features are intentionally engineered to create behavioral addiction in teens, contributing to mental health harms.
“I will not allow Snapchat to harm our kids by running a business designed to get Texas children addicted to a platform filled with obscene and destructive content,” said Paxton. “Parents have a fundamental right to know the dangers of the apps their kids are using and not be lied to by Big Tech companies. This lawsuit will hold Snapchat accountable for illegally undermining parental rights, deceiving consumers, and for putting children in danger.”
Paxton’s office further alleges that Snapchat’s “Family Center” parental controls are limited and burdensome, requiring minors to approve parental access and failing to provide meaningful oversight of content exposure or data sharing.
In addition, the petition claims Snap collects and shares personal data from minors without implementing protections required under the SCOPE Act.
The state is seeking civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation, injunctive relief to halt alleged deceptive practices, and compliance with Texas law.
Snap is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, and reported over $5.3 billion in North American revenue in 2024, according to the filing.
The lawsuit follows similar legal actions Paxton has taken against other social media companies, such as TikTok, over youth safety concerns.
Snap disputed the allegations in a statement to Texas Scorecard.
“We strongly disagree with the Texas Attorney General’s complaint, which fundamentally distorts how our platform works,” a Snapchat spokesperson said. “There is no single safety measure or policy that can eliminate every potential risk online — just as there isn’t offline. That’s why we’ve implemented strong safeguards, introduced safety tutorials and resources, partnered with experts, and continue investing in features and tools that support the safety, privacy, and well-being of all Snapchatters.”
