Florida Sues Snapchat ‘Over Addictive Features,’ Minor Users (2)

Snap Inc., the owner of social media app Snapchat, is violating Florida law with “addictive features” and accounts for children age 13 and under, the state attorney general claimed in a lawsuit.

The state court complaint, filed Monday, alleges the app markets to minors and includes features—such as infinite scrolling, push notifications, interactive metrics for posts, and auto-play videos—which are prohibited under a law enacted last year targeting minors’ social media exposure.

“Snap is deceiving Florida parents about the dangers children face on the app, from behavioral addictive features to allowing sexual predators and drug dealers access, and we cannot allow this deception to continue,” Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) said in a statement.

The state contends that app features—even if they have nothing to do with the content of the media application—can violate the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

“In sum, Snapchat includes numerous features identified in H.B. 3 that promote harmful compulsive overuse by teenagers. Despite these design features, Snap continues to make its platform available to users under 14 years old and to 14- and 15-year-old users without parental consent in defiance of Florida law,” the state said in its complaint.

Snapchat issued a statement saying Florida’s law both doesn’t adequately address age verification while also infringing on the First Amendment.

“We believe there are more privacy-conscious solutions to online safety and managing age verification, including at the operating system, app store, or device level,” the company said.

Dueling Lawsuits

Florida’s complaint comes as the state is battling in federal court to save its beefed up deceptive practices law.

Associations representing internet-based companies are urging the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida to block the law, claiming it violates free speech rights.

Florida “cannot begin to show that its draconian access restrictions are necessary to advance any legitimate interest it may assert,” the Computer & Communications Industry Association said in its complaint filed last October. “Parents already have a wealth of tools at their disposal to limit what online services their minor children use, what they can do on those services, and how often they can use them.”

Judge Mark E. Walker dismissed that complaint last month, finding that none of the group’s members—which include Meta Platforms, Inc. and Google—had suffered an injury to give the association standing. The groups refiled an amended complaint less than two weeks later, pointing out that Snapchat appeared to fit the restrictions under the state’s law.

“In a Nation that values the First Amendment, the preferred response is to let parents decide what speech and mediums their minor children may access—including by utilizing the many available tools to monitor their activities on the Internet,” the association said in a motion seeking to temporarily block the law.

The case is Office of the Att’y Gen., State of Florida, Dep’t of Legal Affairs v. Snap Inc., Fla. Cir. Ct., No. 572025CA000258CAAXMX, complaint filed 4/21/25.