Social Media Victims Law Center Sues Snap Inc., Alleges Snapchat Connected and Facilitated Grooming of Minors with Adult Predators in Washington and Pennsylvania

The lawsuits claim Snapchat’s core features — including Quick Add, disappearing messages, and location tools — exposes children to predators and obstructs evidence of abuse

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Social Media Victims Law Center, a legal advocacy organization representing children and parents of children harmed by social media and AI platforms, has filed multiple civil lawsuits against Snap Inc., alleging that Snapchat is an inherently defective and dangerously designed product that connected known predators with children and facilitated the sexual exploitation of minors in Washington and Pennsylvania. Filed on behalf of six children who were between the ages of 8 and 14 when the harms occurred, the lawsuits also name the individual predators who allegedly operated with Snap Inc.’s knowledge and used Snapchat's features to groom, coerce, exploit, and abuse the children.

The lawsuits contend that while Snapchat markets itself as a fun and safe platform where users can connect with friends and share everyday moments, its product design has made it a safe haven for predators. Beneath its colorful interface, Bitmojis (cartoon avatars), and safe for teens age rating, lies a dangerous product that connects children with adult strangers, facilitates grooming and exploitation, conceals predators' identities and intent, destroys evidence of abuse, and frustrates efforts by parents and law enforcement to protect children before irreversible harm occurs.

The complaints further allege that Snapchat's recommendation algorithms essentially act as a matchmaker for predators, helping them gain access to large numbers of children by making false representations to those children that these are “Friends” and recommending based on factors like age, gender, and location, all while creating a false sense of trust and familiarity.

“Snapchat is a sex trafficker, plain and simple,” said Matthew P. Bergman, founding attorney of the Social Media Victims Law Center. “Our parents warned us about strangers in white vans. Today, the predators arrive as ‘Friend’ notifications on a child's phone. Snapchat takes the very people parents teach their children to avoid and presents them as trusted connections. In case after case, the exploitation began with a recommendation that puts a child directly in the path of a predator.

“What makes these allegations particularly disturbing is that Snap knew its product was being used to connect children with predators and repeatedly failed to take the steps necessary to stop it,” he added.

According to the complaints, Snap executives have known for years that predators were exploiting Snapchat's platform to locate, groom, manipulate, and extort child victims. The lawsuits allege that in early 2024, company executives even received a copy of the "Sextortion Handbook," a 133-page dark-web guide allegedly authored by an anonymous predator who claimed to have blackmailed more than 3,000 girls. The handbook provided detailed instructions on how to use Snapchat's unique features and recommendation tools to identify, access, and connect with children.

Despite repeated warnings from victims, parents, advocacy organizations, law enforcement, internal reports, and receipt of the Sextortion Handbook, the complaints contend that Snap repeatedly failed to make product-level chances and implement safeguards that would have reduced the risk of harm to minors.

The lawsuits, which were filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington (Case 2:26-cv-04235) and the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, First Judicial District of Pennsylvania (Case ID: 261003488), were filed on behalf of the following minors:

“O.H.” from Spokane County, Washington

O.H. was 12 years old when she began secretly downloading and deleting Snapchat every day to avoid detection by her parents, who had expressly prohibited the use of social media. Utilizing this technique, Snap allowed O.H. to repeatedly access the platform despite her age, then used its Quick Add recommendation to connect her with an 18-year-old stranger named Glenn Walter who lived thousands of miles away in Louisiana. He the used Snapchat's Bitmoji feature to present himself as a harmless peer and gain O.H.'s trust before exploiting her.

After connecting the two users, Snap allegedly provided Walter access to O.H.'s location through Snap Map, allowing him to obtain her home address. Walter then used that information to terrorize O.H., threatening to come to her home and harm her family if she did not comply with his demands to send him explicit photos of herself. O.H. became increasingly anxious, withdrawn, sleep-deprived, and fearful while enduring the abuse in secret.

The abuse remained hidden until investigators in Louisiana discovered images and videos of O.H. while executing a search warrant in a broader child exploitation investigation involving Walter, who is now facing criminal prosecution for the sexual exploitation and abuse of more than a dozen children. In April 2024, law enforcement arrived at O.H.'s home and informed her mother, who had believed her daughter was not using Snapchat at all.

Even after leaving the platform, O.H. lived in constant fear because she knew Walter had her home address. She broke down at school, struggled to function, and remained terrified that he would make good on his threats.

“K.N.” Delaware County, PA

In May 2025, Snapchat's Quick Add/Find Friends feature recommended that 13-year-old K.N. connect with 37-year-old Anthony Greene while simultaneously recommending K.N.'s profile to him. K.N. accepted the request to maintain her Snapstreak and Snapscore, engagement features designed to keep young users active on the platform. K.N. felt safe communicating with Greene because Snapchat identified him as a "friend," rewarded the connection through its engagement mechanics, and presented him as a cartoon-like Bitmoji avatar. Snapchat also shared K.N.'s precise location through its Snap Map feature, which Greene used to gain her trust by referencing local landmarks and convincing her he was familiar with her neighborhood.

On June 1, 2025, Greene kidnapped K.N. and took her to a Red Roof Inn, where he sexually assaulted her while filming the abuse on his phone. The following day, Greene took K.N. to another hotel, told her he planned to sell her to other men, threatened her with a handgun, and warned that he would kill her if she told anyone what had happened. Greene also physically assaulted K.N., repeatedly punching her in the face. Delaware County law enforcement arrested Greene on June 3, 2025, on trafficking, kidnapping, and related sexual assault charges. On April 21, 2026, Greene was federally indicted for using Snapchat to exploit K.N. and several other minors. He remains incarcerated awaiting trial.

“A.G.” Delaware County, PA

In November 2025, Snapchat’s Quick Add/Find Friends feature recommended to 14-year-old A.G. that she should connect with a 28-year-old stranger from Maryland named Jonathan Meyers. Over the course of six months, Meyers groomed A.G., and coerced her into sending him sexually explicit photographs, which he is believed to have stored in Snapchat’s hidden data vault feature, My Eyes Only, and eventually into meeting with him. Meyers used Snap Map to find A.G.’s exact geographical location where he picked her up and drove her to his house where he sexually assaulted her. This happened on six separate instances.

On May 28, 2026, Delaware County law enforcement arrested Meyers for Sexual Assault, Unlawful Contact with Minors, Corruption of Minors, and related charges. In June 2026, the State of Maryland independently charged Meyers for using Snapchat to sexually assault, groom, and coerce into sending sexually explicit photos several other minors as well. Meyers is currently in jail and awaiting trial.

“E.S.” Delaware County, PA

E.S. was only 8 years old when Snapchat first connected her to an adult stranger. In January 2025, the app's Quick Add feature recommended that she add a man from Florida while simultaneously recommending her profile to him. She was a third grader using Snapchat without her mother’s knowledge or consent, and believing it was safe, the way millions of children do.

A month later, E.S. posted a video of herself blowing out the candles on her ninth birthday cake. The Florida man saw it and began messaging her. Snapchat's disappearing-message design gave him confidence that whatever he said would vanish. He told E.S. he knew where she lived and threatened her if she did not do what he demanded. With Snap Map, he could make those threats feel real.

Over the following months, the stranger used Snapchat's secrecy features to isolate and control her. Messages disappeared. Evidence vanished. And Snapchat's hidden vault, My Eyes Only, gave him a place to store the material he coerced from her, locked away from parents and, according to the complaint, beyond the reach of investigators. For E.S., the app that was supposed to be fun became a source of fear.

He was not the only adult Snapchat convinced her was a “Friend.” Between 2025 and 2026, multiple strangers reached E.S. through Snapchat, each aided by the same design choices: disappearing messages, cartoon avatars that made adults appear harmless, recommendation features that encouraged contact, Snap Inc. rewards and false representations that these were “Friends,” and a location-sharing system that allowed strangers to act as though they knew her world.

What happened to E.S. did not begin with a search or a mistake. It began with a recommendation, a company that claimed its product was safe and intended only to connect people who knew each other in real life that instead programmed its product for engagement, including tools designed to connect children with predatory adults that should never be able to find them.

“H.S.” Delaware County, PA

H.S. was 14 years old when Snapchat connected her with 21-year-old Nicholas Rodden, who was advertising drugs for sale on the platform. She connected with Rodden in part to maintain her Snapstreak score. By that point, H.S. was spending as many as 21 hours a day on Snapchat, driven by Snapstreaks and Snapscores, features the lawsuit alleges were designed to keep children constantly engaged through intermittent rewards, social pressure, and the threat of losing status if they stopped interacting.

Rodden eventually persuaded H.S. to meet him in person. He told her he was 17 years old, and she trusted him in part because Snapchat presented him as a friendly-looking Bitmoji avatar. The lawsuit contends that Snapchat's disappearing messages and other platform features enabled Rodden to groom H.S. into a relationship in which he sexually and physically abused her.

In August 2026, Delaware County law enforcement charged Rodden with sexual assault, unlawful contact with minors, corruption of minors, and related offenses. He is currently in jail and awaiting trial.

For H.S., Snapchat was more than a messaging app. It was a product that rewarded constant interaction, encouraged connections with strangers, convinced her that those strangers were safe, and created an environment in which an adult predator was pushed to her by design, then able to gain her trust and access to her life.

“L.B.” Chester County, PA

L.B. was 12 years old when Snapchat connected her with four adult strangers from Pennsylvania, Texas, Michigan, and New Jersey in October 2024. Through Snapchat's disappearing messages and carefully engineered environment of trust, familiarity, and fun, each adult began grooming and coercing her. One of them, Texas resident Johnny Washington, threatened to rape L.B. and her 6-year-old sister.

Earlier that year, North Carolina law enforcement informed Snap via legal process that Washington was sexually exploiting at least three other minors through Snapchat. Despite that notice, Snap did not remove his account, and instead, allowed him to remain on the platform and continue targeting children, including L.B.

Investigators later determined that the Pennsylvania account belonged to 21-year-old Ryan McGowan. Chester County law enforcement charged him with unlawful contact with a minor and related offenses. In December 2025, McGowan pleaded guilty to corruption of minors and was sentenced to five years' probation.

Law enforcement uncovered evidence of extensive sexual exploitation of L.B. but was unable to access the evidence Snapchat already had deleted, or Snapchat's hidden My Eyes Only vault. The lawsuits contend that predators used the My Eyes Only feature to store child sexual abuse material on Snap's servers in a manner that prevented L.B., her parents, and law enforcement from discovering, reporting, or removing the content.

About the Social Media Victims Law Center

The Social Media Victims Law Center (SMVLC), socialmediavictims.org, was founded in 2021 to hold tech companies legally accountable for the harm they inflict on vulnerable users. SMVLC seeks to apply principles of product liability to force tech companies to elevate consumer safety to the forefront of its economic analysis and design safer products to protect users from foreseeable harm.