Section 230 shields Snapchat from minor’s claims that algorithm enabled rape.

A judge has dismissed a complaint from a parent and guardian of a girl, now 15, who was sexually assaulted when she was 12 years old after Snapchat recommended that she connect with convicted sex offenders.

According to the court filing, the abuse that the girl, C.O., experienced on Snapchat happened soon after she signed up for the app in 2019. Through its “Quick Add” feature, Snapchat “directed her” to connect with “a registered sex offender using the profile name JASONMORGAN5660.” After a little more than a week on the app, C.O. was bombarded with inappropriate images and subjected to sextortion and threats before the adult user pressured her to meet up, then raped her. Cops arrested the adult user the next day, resulting in his incarceration, but his Snapchat account remained active for three years despite reports of harassment, the complaint alleged.

  • katy ✨
    3•10 months ago

    putting this all on the parents is a failure to understand how parenting works. parents who are the most attentive still aren’t around their kids all the time and children will always find a way to do something. why was snapchat connecting adults to children through algorithms in the first place?

    • @MinorLaceration
      1•10 months ago

      Something tells me you didn’t read my comment.

      Unless we want snapchat and other apps to require photo ID, how would snapchat actually know who is a child and who is an adult? Why did the parents not know or care that the kid had snapchat downloaded?