New Mexico
New Mexico sues Snap Inc. after investigation finds 'dark web' of child abuse
New Mexico’s attorney general has filed a lawsuit against the company behind Snapchat, alleging that site’s design and policies foster the sharing of child sexual abuse material and facilitate child sexual exploitation.
Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed the lawsuit against Snap Inc. Thursday in state court in Santa Fe. In addition to sexual abuse, the lawsuit claims the company also openly promotes child trafficking, drugs and guns.
Last December, Torrez filed a similar lawsuit against Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, saying it allows predators to trade child pornography and solicit minors for sex on its platforms. That suit is pending.
Snap’s “harmful design features create an environment where predators can easily target children through sextortion schemes and other forms of sexual abuse,” Torrez said in a statement. Sexual extortion, or sextortion, involves persuading a person to send explicit photos online and then threatening to make the images public unless the victim pays money or engages in sexual favors.
“Snap has misled users into believing that photos and videos sent on their platform will disappear, but predators can permanently capture this content and they have created a virtual yearbook of child sexual images that are traded, sold, and stored indefinitely,” Torres said.
In a statement, Snap said it shares Torrez’s and the public’s concerns about the online safety of young people.
“We understand that online threats continue to evolve and we will continue to work diligently to address these critical issues,” the company based in Santa Monica, California, said. We have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in our trust and safety teams over the past several years, and designed our service to promote online safety by moderating content and enabling direct messaging with close friends and family.”
According to the complaint, minors report having more online sexual interactions on Snapchat than any other platform, and more sex trafficking victims are recruited on Snapchat than on any other platform.
Prior to the lawsuit, New Mexico conducted a monthslong undercover investigation into child sexual abuse images on Snapchat. According to Torrez’s statement, the investigation revealed a “vast network of dark web sites dedicated to sharing stolen, non-consensual sexual images from Snap,” finding more than 10,000 records related to Snap and child sexual abuse material in the last year. This included information related to minors younger than 13 being sexually assaulted.
As part of the undercover investigation, the New Mexico department of justice set up a decoy Snapchat account for a 14-year-old named Heather, who found and exchanged messages with accounts with names like “child.rape” and “pedo_lover10.”
Snapchat, the lawsuit alleges, “was by far the largest source of images and videos among the dark web sites investigated.” Investigators also found Snapchat accounts that openly circulated and sold child abuse images directly on the platform.
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The Auburn Tigers held New Mexico to 19 points in Saturday’s win. But that number doesn’t tell the whole story.
Auburn allowed 448 total yards, 291 through the air and 157 on the ground. The Tigers did force two turnovers and held New Mexico to 4-of-13 on third downs.
Head coach Hugh Freeze believes that the Tigers have some things to work on defensively before SEC play begins.
“It looked like we were tired,” Freeze said. “I thought we played slow and not very disciplined, too many penalties, and we’re not playing with poise when we’re in position to make a play as a DB. That’s what I felt like.”
The Tigers tightened up on defense in the second half. Freeze credited defensive coordinator DJ Durkin and his staff with making the halftime adjustments necessary.
“I definitely think DJ and his staff are one of the better staffs at adjusting at halftime, but they don’t lack in preparation effort either,” Freeze said. “They had a lot to prepare for, and we didn’t see a lot of this, all of the X-off motions and extra tackle in the game. It was just a lot coming at us pretty fast there in the first half. But no excuse for us. Several of those plays, we’re in post high safety, and the high safety, when the quarterback starts scrambling around, decides he needs to not be a post high safety anymore.”
New Mexico’s offense did throw a lot of different things at Auburn, largely due to dual-threat quarterback Devon Dampier’s diverse skillset.
“Now, I will say (New Mexico) had an open week, and they threw the kitchen sink at us,” Freeze said. “Every formation, every motion, every unbalanced and a quarterback they could run around and make plays, but we didn’t tackle well, didn’t think our effort was great, and hopefully that’s a good learning lesson for us. And I know DJ (Durkin) feels that way, and will work hard this week to make sure that we don’t see a repeat of that.”
Auburn will be facing another mobile quarterback in Taylon Green when Arkansas makes its way into Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CT and ESPN will carry the broadcast.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The New Mexico Department of Transportation will host a meeting Tuesday on the rebuild of I-25 in a stretch of the South Valley.
They’re inviting the public to learn about design plans and the environmental impact of the reconstruction of I-25 between Avenida Cesar Chavez and the Sunport. NMDOT is also looking for public input on these plans.
The meeting is Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Herman Sanchez Community Center near Broadway and Anderson. The NMDOT project team will conduct a presentation and Q&A at 6:30 p.m. with an open house format before and after.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Police are investigating after a person was shot and killed in northwest Albuquerque Sunday.
Albuquerque police say officers were called out to a shooting near a Big 5 Sporting Goods at 3140 Coors Blvd.
Police say officers found one person dead on scene. Another person was taken into custody.
Details are limited. Stay with KOB 4 Eyewitness News and KOB.com for updates.
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