{"id":272484,"date":"2026-08-26T10:28:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T10:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/272484\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T10:28:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T10:28:18","slug":"pennsylvania-ag-sues-snapchat-over-age-rating-addictive-features","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/272484\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania AG sues Snapchat over age rating, addictive features"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday is suing Snapchat for allegedly exposing children to inappropriate content<\/a> and keeping young users hooked through addictive features on the social media application.<\/p>\n

Sunday, who announced the lawsuit Tuesday at his Center City office, said he wants Snapchat to overhaul the way it markets itself, implement design changes to discourage compulsive use and put in more parental safeguards.<\/p>\n

Snapchat reported to Apple that content including profanity, sexual themes and references to alcohol, tobacco and drugs appeared infrequently, in order to get rated as suitable for individuals ages 13 and up on the App Store, according to the complaint. Similar guidance is posted on smartphone marketplaces operated by Google and Microsoft.<\/p>\n

However, an investigator from the AG\u2019s Office created an account posing as a 13-year-old and found all of those topics being presented through the app\u2019s algorithm, Sunday\u2019s team wrote in court documents.<\/p>\n

The social media platform\u2019s signature feature \u2014 that posts and messages disappear after being viewed or available for more than 24 hours \u2014 entices youth to frequently check Snapchat, Sunday said.<\/p>\n

Videos and photographs automatically load and begin playing, creating a never-ending scroll that keeps kids glued to their phones, according to the AG\u2019s Office. The \u201cStreak\u201d feature also rewards people for communicating with each other for consecutive days, incentivizing habitual use, the attorneys allege.<\/p>\n

The AG\u2019s lawsuit, citing 2024 data from the Pew Research Center, states that nearly half of all American teenagers report logging onto Snapchat daily.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a parent in 2026 is very hard work,\u201d said Sunday, who has an 11-year-old son. \u201cModern technology, for all of its vast benefits, has really opened up a wild west of potential threats to our children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sunday told reporters that parents rely on age ratings and information provided by social media companies to determine whether a particular app is safe for their children to download. Those details need to be accurate, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis lawsuit and our previous actions are not about taking on the role of parents,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s about empowering parents with the tools that parents need to make decisions for their children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Snap Inc., which developed and operates the app, did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s 49-page lawsuit<\/a> was filed in Philadelphia and accuses the company of violating the commonwealth\u2019s consumer protection laws. Sections of the complaint, including those referring to internal Snap documents, were redacted in a copy provided to members of the press.<\/p>\n

The AG\u2019s Office opened a similar case earlier this month in Allegheny County against TikTok. Sunday noted that Pennsylvania remains engaged in a multi-state lawsuit against Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram. A trial in that matter<\/a> is ongoing in California.<\/p>\n

MORE: Can Philly schools keep students off their phones?<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\tKeywords<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tPennsylvania,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Dave Sunday,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Snapchat,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Social Media,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Technology,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Children,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Attorney General\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday is suing Snapchat for allegedly exposing children to inappropriate content and keeping young…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9940,734,4599,28,69,71,70,14495,3652,503],"class_list":["post-272484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-attorney-general","tag-children","tag-dave-sunday","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-snapchat","tag-social-media","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}