Missouri family sues Snapchat parent company over alleged grooming and rape of 12-year-old

A Missouri family filed a lawsuit Wednesday in state court against the company that operates Snapchat, alleging the platform’s features allowed an adult man to contact and rape their daughter when she was 12. The complaint names the man as a defendant.

He pleaded guilty earlier to one count of statutory rape or attempted statutory rape and one count of enticement or attempted enticement of a child and received an 18-year sentence.

Allegations in the complaint The suit claims the platform’s Quick Add and Snap Map features enabled the man to locate and groom the girl, identified in court papers as J.F. It states that Quick Add recommended his account because it appeared to share mutual contacts with hers and that his profile image portrayed him as a peer.

The complaint further alleges the girl began using the app at age 11 without her parents’ knowledge and that the man later sent explicit images that could not be previewed before opening. It says he obtained her address through the platform and arranged to meet her outside her home, where the assault occurred in September 2021.

Prior cases and company statements The Missouri filing is one of several lawsuits that have accused the platform of failing to prevent contact between adults and minors. A separate suit filed in 2024 by New Mexico’s attorney general made similar claims about the company’s policies.

The company has stated that its rules prohibit sexual exploitation and that it uses automated and human review systems to detect abuse. It has also introduced features intended to limit adult strangers from contacting younger users. The complaint cites a 133-page manual that the company received in 2024, originally published on the dark web, that allegedly instructs users how to exploit the platform’s features.