Lawsuit Filed Over Snapchat Contact Leading to Rape of Missouri Girl

Parents of a Missouri girl identified as J.F. filed a lawsuit Wednesday in state court against the parent company of Snapchat and the man who raped her when she was 12. The complaint alleges the platform recommended the girl as a friend to defendant Gabriel Joel Valentin-Rios, an adult with no real-life connection to her, and later supplied her home address through its Snap Maps feature.

Allegations in the Complaint The suit states the girl began using the app in 2021 at age 11 without her parents' knowledge. It claims the platform did not warn users that connecting with strangers could be dangerous and that its product design made it difficult for her to avoid receiving unsolicited explicit images.

According to the filing, Valentin-Rios posed as a 17-year-old local high school student, groomed the girl, and arranged an in-person meeting that ended in rape. He later pleaded guilty to statutory rape and is serving an 18-year prison sentence. The lawsuit further claims the company knew Valentin-Rios maintained multiple accounts despite policies against the practice and used one to contact teen girls.

Mexico sued the company in 2024, alleging the platform's features foster sextortion and unwanted adult contact with minors. A judge denied the company's motion to dismiss that case last year. Separate individual lawsuits remain pending, including one in Vermont brought on behalf of two 12-year-old girls who were sexually assaulted by an adult they met on the platform.

“This assault did not happen in a vacuum - it happened because Snapchat's product design made it easy for a predator to reach and manipulate an unsuspecting child." — Matthew Bergman, founder of the Social Media Victims Law Center, which brought the suit. The plaintiffs seek unspecified damages and are asking the court to order the company to stop practices that harm children. J.F. has been diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety, and depression, the complaint states.”