Florida has filed a major lawsuit against Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat, accusing the tech giant of deliberately designing its app to addict children while misleading parents about its safety. This legal battle, announced on Tuesday, adds to the growing scrutiny social media platforms face over their impact on young users’ mental health.
The lawsuit, filed in Santa Rosa County by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, claims that Snapchat has violated a new state law intended to protect minors from harmful digital practices. The law, signed in 2024 by Governor Ron DeSantis, mandates that social media platforms adopt safer design features for users under the age of 16.
According to the complaint, Snapchat employs addictive design techniques such as infinite scrolling, auto-play videos, constant push notifications, and feedback-driven metrics that hook users and encourage prolonged screen time. These features, the state argues, are especially harmful to children and teenagers, contributing to mental health challenges like anxiety, depression, and sleep disruption.
What’s more alarming, Florida alleges that Snap allows children under the age of 13 to create accounts without proper age verification, directly violating its own age policy. The platform also fails to get parental consent for 14- and 15-year-old users, a requirement under the new Florida law.
“Snapchat markets itself as a safe place for 13-year-olds, but in reality, it exposes them to adult content, including pornography and illegal drug transactions,” said Uthmeier. “This lawsuit aims to hold Snap accountable for actively deceiving Florida parents about the risks their children face online.”
Snap Inc., based in Santa Monica, California, has pushed back against the lawsuit. In a public statement, the company argued that Florida’s law violates constitutional rights, including the First Amendment, which protects freedom of speech for both adults and children. Snap also emphasized that broader, privacy-focused solutions should be developed at the app store and device level, rather than targeting individual apps.
The legal landscape may become even more complex as two major tech advocacy groups—NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association—are already challenging the constitutionality of the same Florida law in federal court.
This lawsuit reflects a broader national conversation around tech accountability, youth mental health, and the urgent need for digital safeguards. As policymakers, parents, and tech companies continue to clash over responsibility, Florida’s legal action could set a precedent for other states aiming to regulate social media platforms more aggressively.
For now, the case—Florida v Snap Inc, Santa Rosa County Circuit Court, No. 25000258CAAXMX—marks a bold step in the ongoing battle to make the digital world safer for the youngest users.
