Parents protest Snapchat outside company’s headquarters
Standing outside Snap’s offices in Santa Monica, parents held photos of their children who died after taking fentanyl-laced pills thanks to missing messages from the Snapchat app.
They rolled white paint on the floor, spelling out the names of 108 children who died as a result of alleged violence on social media.
“Snapchat: Protect children, not predators,” read one banner.
Yellow signs with images of dead children accused the company of being “complicit” in “murder,” videos and photos from the protest showed.
More than 40 parents attended Thursday’s protest, an event organized by the Heat Initiative, an advocacy group that aims to hold tech companies accountable if they fail to protect children online.
“For years, families have watched their children die from fentanyl poisoning and sexual exploitation facilitated by Snapchat’s design – and for years, Snapchat has fought to avoid any meaningful accountability,” Sarah Gardner, executive director of the Heat Initiative, said in a statement.
The protest highlighted the growing pressure that social media companies such as Snap continue to face, amid a landmark trial in Los Angeles over whether tech companies such as Instagram and YouTube can be held liable for allegedly promoting a harmful product and addicting users to their platforms, which continues in Los Angeles.
TikTok and Snap, the parent company of messaging app Snapchat, settled for undisclosed sums to avoid litigation.
Parents who claim the Santa Monica company is responsible for drug sales facilitated through the app have also sued Snap. Parents who attended this week’s protest urged the company to do more to protect young people from predators and asked Snap to deactivate its AI chatbot.
Social media companies have faced allegations for years that their platforms are designed to be addictive and allow predators and drug dealers to target and harm young people. Parents who have lost their children have also pushed for more laws, including in California, to make social media platforms safer.
The rise of artificial intelligence chatbots, which are also integrated into apps such as Snapchat and Instagram, has also raised more safety concerns as young people who have committed suicide have shared some of their darkest thoughts online.
Snap said in a statement that the company has invested in online safety, including combating illegal drug sales on its platform. The company highlighted the technology it uses to detect illegal drug content, its work with law enforcement and educational initiatives. This week, Snap was among the companies that agreed to be evaluated on their child safety efforts.
“Snap unequivocally condemns the criminal behavior of the drug traffickers whose actions led to these tragedies. Addressing the fentanyl crisis requires a united front, bringing together law enforcement, government officials, medical professionals, parents, educators, technology companies and advocacy organizations,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.
Amy Neville, an Orange County mother who lost her 14-year-old son, Alexander Neville, to fentanyl poisoning after obtaining drugs through Snapchat, said in a statement that the parents had testified before Congress, organized rallies and brought deaths to Snap’s doors for years.
“We are painting our children’s names in the street and bringing this memorial to his door because Evan Spiegel does not recognize what his agenda has taken from us,” she said in a statement.
Spiegel is the CEO and co-founder of Snap.
Parents also gathered at Gloria Molina Grand Park in Los Angeles on Friday to honor their children who they say have died because of the harms of social media. They unveiled the “Lost Screen Memorial,” displaying large smartphones with images of 50 dead children.
“Their faces are a constant reminder of what was lost. The responsibility for keeping children safe online should not fall solely on parents,” the memorial’s website reads.
