Social media has become the center of many teenager’s lives within recent years as communication with peers has grown almost dependent on it. It is a fun way to post things about your life or text with friends, but it is important to be careful with the way that social media is used because it can become dangerous very quickly.
Snapchat, a very popular social media platform used to send photos and videos to friends, is currently being sued for its negligence to illegal activity being performed on the app. The lawsuit Neville et al v. Snap Inc. is being put forth by the parents of children who died due to drugs that they bought off of Snapchat. According to an article by ABC News, the lawsuit was first filed in October of 2022, and Snapchat has since been trying to keep quiet and get it dismissed. On January 2, it was ruled by a judge that the lawsuit could move forward. There are over 60 parents or family members of children who are part of it.
Features unique to Snapchat such as automatically deleted chats and location sharing make it a very easy platform to use for illegal or secretive activities. This gives children a way to hide things from their parents without being suspicious. The children discussed in this lawsuit were using the app to contact drug dealers and buy from them, and in all but two cases they died due to the drugs being laced with fentanyl, which the children were unaware of.
According to the Social Media Victims Law Center, Snapchat executives have known that their app was being used for minors to buy from drug dealers as early as 2017. Since then, the company has been doing various things such as meeting with parents or giving statements to the press with the purpose of avoiding a lawsuit.
While these children were not using social media in a responsible way to begin with, it still goes to show how unpredictable it can become when meeting someone online. Whether the blame of this lawsuit should be placed on Snapchat itself or the children who used it illegally is debatable. The app is meant to be used for communication, and the trial has made it glaringly obvious company executives do not monitor the way that their consumers choose to use the different features of it.
In light of these tragic accidents, it is extremely important to be careful with what you do on social media. Don’t fall victim to dangerous features that may be part of apps you are using. It is smart to check who you share your location with and make sure it is not being given to people you don’t know.
“I do not share my location with people on Snapchat because I feel the only people who really need it are my close friends and family, and I share it with them on Life360 because I don’t want random people knowing where I am,” said senior Kaylee Ellerhorst.
Be smart about how you use social media. You have control over whether or not you want to make your accounts, location, or information public, so make good choices. Watch out for your friends and make sure that they are not making bad decisions through social media. The various platforms that teenagers have access to can be a fun way to share your life with friends, but it must be used in a conscientious way.
