COLLIN COUNTY, Texas – Texas announced that they are filing a lawsuit against Snap, Inc., the parent company of the popular social media company Snapchat. 

Snap, Inc. allegedly violates the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Consumer Protection Act (DTPA) by failing to adequately warn parents and consumers about exposure to inappropriate material and the app’s addictive design. The state says the company misrepresents its safety for young users, placing children at risk of harm.

Allegations of “addictive” app design, mature content

FILE – Snapchat logo displayed on a phone screen. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

What we know:

The lawsuit filed on Wednesday alleges that the creators of Snapchat knowingly misrepresented the app’s safety to parents and consumers by promoting it as safe for children and with “12+” age ratings on app stores. 

This was done, the state says, “while simultaneously frequently exposing users to dangerous and mature content,” citing profanity, sexual content, nudity and drug use in the news release.

The lawsuit specifically cites multiple other features of the app, including Snapstreaks, Snapscore, Snap Map, Infinite Scroll, My AI Chatbot, expiring messages and more as incentives to use the app daily and cause harm to young children due to the “addictive” nature of the features.

Texas SCOPE Act violations

What they’re saying:

In the lawsuit, the state mentions three separate sections of the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act that are being violated by Snap, Inc. 

• Section 509.101: Failure to use a commercially reasonable method for a parent or guardian to verify their identity
• Section 509.052: Unlawfully sharing, disclosing and selling known minors’ personal identifying information
• Section 509.054: Failing to provide parental tools for the accounts of known minors.

In this photo illustration a Snapchat logo seen displayed on a smartphone screen in Athens, Greece on May 16, 2022. (Photo illustration by Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

In the news release announcing the lawsuit, the Texas Attorney General states that this lawsuit will hold the social media company accountable.

“I will not allow Snapchat to harm our kids by running a business designed to get Texas children addicted to a platform filled with obscene and destructive content,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Parents have a fundamental right to know the dangers of the apps their kids are using and not be lied to by Big Tech companies. This lawsuit will hold Snapchat accountable for illegally undermining parental rights, deceiving consumers, and for putting children in danger.”

Crackdown on Big Tech

The backstory:

The Texas Attorney General’s Office mentions that this lawsuit follows legal action that was taken in Dec. 2024 against several other social media companies, including TikTok, Roblox, Reddit, Instagram and Discord.

Texas similarly launched investigations into these companies regarding their privacy and safety practices for minors, citing the SCOPE Act and the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (TDPSA). The protection of these laws extends to how minors interact with AI products.

FILE- social media, Twitter, TikTok, WhatApp, Instagram, Threads, Snapchat, Facebook, Messenger and Telegram displayed on the screen of a smartphone.(Chesnot/Getty Images)

The SCOPE Act and TDSA explained

Dig deeper:

The SCOPE Act prohibits digital service providers from sharing, disclosing, or selling a minor’s personal identifying information without permission from the child’s parent or legal guardian. The SCOPE Act also requires companies to provide parents with tools to manage and control the privacy settings on their child’s account. 

The TDPSA imposes strict notice and consent requirements on companies that collect and use minors’ personal data.

Potential penalties

What’s next:

Texas is seeking civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation, along with a permanent injunction that could require Snapchat to change how it markets and rates the app, disclose what the state describes as “addictive” design features, strengthen parental verification and oversight tools and comply with the SCOPE Act’s protections for minors. 

A jury trial has been requested in Collin County district court.

EL PASO, Texas — The Federal Aviation Administration is closing the airspace around El Paso International Airport in Texas for 10 days, grounding all flights to and from the airport.

A notice posted on the FAA’s website said the temporary flight restrictions were for “special security reasons,” but did not provide additional details. The closure does not include Mexican airspace.

The airport said in an Instagram post that all flights to and from the airport would be grounded from late Tuesday through late on Feb. 20, including commercial, cargo and general aviation flights. It suggested travelers contact their airlines to get up-to-date flight information.

The shutdown is likely to create significant disruptions given the duration and the size of the metropolitan area. El Paso, a border city with a population of nearly 700,000 and larger when you include the surrounding metro area, is hub of cross-border commerce alongside neighboring Ciudad Juarez in Mexico.

The airport describes itself as the gateway to west Texas, southern New Mexico and northern Mexico. Southwest, United, American and Delta all operate flights there, among others.

The Dallas Open has taken over Frisco this week, a far cry from its inaugural tournament at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex at SMU just four years ago. 

Now, the Star – best known as the Dallas Cowboys’ headquarters – has become the epicenter of tennis in North Texas.

A tournament born from a meeting

One of the masterminds behind the inception of the tournament is SMU men’s tennis coach Grant Chen.

The event came about after a scheduled 30‑minute meeting between Chen and several other organizers turned into a three‑hour conversation that ultimately led to what the Dallas Open is today.

“It’s been a remarkable ride,” Chen said. “It’s almost like a movie. This all started with a lunch on December 17th, 2020. To see it six years later to come to this….it’s so great for the DFW, it’s great for the metroplex, it’s great for sports and it’s great for Tennis.”

Participation and interest on the rise

The growth can be seen not just in the venue, but in the sport itself.

Tennis has seen a boom in participation over the last five years, according to statistics from the U.S. Tennis Association.

As of Feb. 2, 2026, TCU, Texas A&M, Texas and Baylor are all ranked in the ITA Top 25 in collegiate tennis.

American stars fueling momentum

This year’s tournament has no shortage of American talent.

Players like Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton are headliners in this year’s Dallas Open, and having these players front and center has helped the sport evolve in the Dallas–Fort Worth area.

“If you look at UIL and high school tennis, that’s been taking off,” Chen said. “You look at college tennis, Texas has some of the top collegiate teams in the country between TCU, Baylor, SMU, UT, A&M, Rice, you name it.”

Looking ahead to future growth

So where does the tournament go from here?

Chen says he’s looking to keep growing the event, but for now, he’s just like the fans who come to the Dallas Open — excited to watch the best of the best take the stage.

“Like they say, everything is bigger in Texas,” Chen said. “How do we make it bigger, better, stronger, faster for 2027. But for right now, the ’26 event is going on, the lineup the next couple of days is unreal.”