Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday sued Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) on Tuesday, accusing the Snapchat parent of designing features that keep children compulsively engaged while misleading families about age-inappropriate content and platform risks.
Pennsylvania Targets Snapchat’s Addictive Design Features
"Once they have you signed up and logged in, you are officially in their clutches," Sunday said. "From there, Snapchat essentially says good luck getting out."
The complaint, filed in Philadelphia County Court, alleges Snapchat understates sexual content, drug use and suicidal ideation to maintain a 13+ app-store rating. Sunday wants Snap to change how it markets the platform and protects minors.
"The lawsuit also demands that Snapchat finally come clean about the addictiveness of their app and takes real action to protect young users," Sunday said.
Pennsylvania specifically targets SnapStreaks, which track consecutive days friends exchange Snaps. Sunday said the feature "puts a tangible value on friendships and influences a child’s feelings of self-worth." The complaint also argues disappearing messages can encourage risky sharing.
Pew Research Center found 55% of U.S. teens used Snapchat in 2025, with 46% using it daily and 12% saying they used it "almost constantly." A 2026 Pew study found 57% of teen Snapchat users message others there daily.
Snap Rejects Claims And Highlights Safeguards
Snap rejected the allegations. "The allegations fundamentally misrepresent our platform and our approach to teen safety," a spokesperson said in a statement shared with Fox News. "Snapchat was designed differently from the beginning: it opens to a camera, not a feed of content, and was built to encourage self-expression and authentic connection with friends."
Snap says its Family Center gives parents greater oversight, including visibility into who teens communicate with and how much time they spend across features. In June, the company also began restricting public distribution of content from users ages 13 to 15.
Social Media Addiction Lawsuits Keep Growing
The case adds to growing litigation over social-media design. A federal appeals court this month allowed more than 3,000 addiction lawsuits against Snap, Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and privately held TikTok parent ByteDance to proceed.
A teen recently dropped one addiction case against Meta, Google and Snap. New York City has separately sued Snap, Meta, Alphabet and TikTok, while a March jury found Meta and YouTube negligent in another case.
Sunday filed a similar complaint against TikTok in Pennsylvania earlier this month.
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