New York —
The family of a Missouri teenager is suing Snapchat parent company Snap, claiming the social media platform facilitated her rape as a 12-year-old. Snapchat features such as Quick Add and Snap Map enabled assailant Gabriel Joel Valentin-Rios to connect with and groom the girl, referred to as J.F., the complaint alleges.
The suit, filed Wednesday in Missouri state court, also names Valentin-Rios as a defendant. Valentin-Rios recently pleaded guilty to one count of statutory rape or attempted statutory rape and one count of enticement or attempted enticement of a child; he was sentenced to 18 years.
Wednesday’s lawsuit is just the latest case seeking to hold Snapchat accountable for sexual abuse that young users say they experienced because of the platform. Multiple families have sued the platform with similar claims, and multiple men have been sentenced for abuse of minors with whom they connected on Snapchat. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez sued Snap in 2024, alleging that its policies and features facilitate child sexual exploitation.
Snap’s rules prohibit sexual exploitation, and the company says it uses automated and human review systems to prevent abuse and proactively remove bad actors. It has also introduced features meant to make it harder for adult strangers to contact young people. In response to the New Mexico lawsuit, the company told the Associated Press: “We continue to evolve our safety mechanisms and policies, from leveraging advanced technology to detect and block certain activity, to prohibiting friending from suspicious accounts, to working alongside law enforcement and government agencies, among so much more.”
