WASHINGTON, DC (June 26, 2026) – The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) called on Snap to make urgent changes to ensure predators cannot contact or sexually abuse children, considering a new lawsuit against the platform that alleges Snap facilitated a Missouri girl’s rape when she was 12. “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,” according to CNN.
“The new child sexual abuse lawsuit against Snapchat highlights the horrific fact that the platform continues to be a tool for child abusers and predators – this should be a catalyst for Snapchat to make urgent changes,” said Haley McNamara, Executive Director and Chief Strategy Officer, National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
“Snapchat – which earned it a spot on our 2026 Dirty Dozen List of mainstream contributors to sexual exploitation – has the ability to stop the creation and sharing of self-generated child sexual abuse material and adult image-based sexual abuse on its platform. But it chooses not to. This is a design choice that is facilitating the sexual abuse and sextortion of untold numbers of youth and adults alike. Snapchat should immediately reverse course and use existing technologies to block explicit content creation and sharing, cutting off the tools predators rely on, along with radically reducing minors’ access to friend-finding mechanics which allegedly led to J.F.’s abuse in this lawsuit.
“According to this lawsuit, internal documents and whistleblower accounts reveal that reports of abuse have often gone ignored by Snapchat. It is time for Snapchat to enact strong safety protections for children in order to prevent future tragedies. We are grateful to the Social Media Victims Law Center for filing this lawsuit. Survivors of child sexual abuse deserve justice,” McNamara said.
NCOSE holds that Snapchat is too dangerous for children and believes the minimum age for users should be at least 16, if not older.
About National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE)
Founded in 1962, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is the leading national non-profit organization exposing the links between all forms of sexual exploitation such as child sexual abuse, prostitution, sex trafficking and the public health harms of pornography.
To schedule an interview with NCOSE, please contact press@ncose.com.
