A group of families spoke out about the issue of drug deals on the social media site Snapchat in October 2022. They sued Snapchat because their kids got drugs through the app. All but two of the kids involved in these cases died after taking the drugs they bought on Snapchat.
In October, California tried to fight the claim, but on Tuesday, a judge in the Los Angeles Superior Court said that the case could go forward.
The lawsuit itself says, “Snap and Snapchat’s part in selling illegal drugs to teens was a likely outcome of the designs, structures, and policies Snap chose to put in place to make more money.”
Some people say that this problem was made worse by Snapchat features like hidden texts and other hidden features that make it easier to do illegal things on the app. The people who are suing say that the fact that Snapchat is meant to be more private is one of the main reasons why more and more tragedies like this are happening.
One child, Sammy, 16, who was raised by TV show Dr. Laura Berman and her husband Sam Chapman, died after getting a drugged pill on Snapchat. He bought a pill from someone on Snapchat, but it turned out to be a fake and hold fentanyl inside. Sammy passed out after taking this drug.
The main plaintiff in the case lost her 14-year-old son after he took an Oxycodone pill that had Fentanyl in it. “They brushed it under the rug while kids are dying,” she said. They could have done the right thing, but they put money ahead of people.
They will hold social media companies responsible for their part in this, she said, by using “lawsuits and legislation.”
A representative for Snap Inc. named Ashley Adams said that Snapchat will “continue to defend itself in court” as the case goes on.
