New Mexico

Snap calls New Mexico's child safety complaint a 'sensationalist lawsuit'

Published

1 year ago

November 22, 2024

Snap calls New Mexico's child safety complaint a 'sensationalist lawsuit'

Snap has accused New Mexico’s attorney general of intentionally looking for adult users seeking sexually explicit content in order to make its app seem unsafe in a filing asking the court to dismiss the state’s lawsuit. In the document shared by The Verge, the company questioned the veracity of the state’s allegations. The attorney general’s office said that while it was using a decoy account supposed to be owned by a 14-year-old girl, it was added by a user named Enzo (Nud15Ans). From that connection, the app allegedly suggested over 91 users, including adults looking for sexual content. Snap said in its motion to dismiss, however, that those “allegations are patently false.”

It was the decoy account that searched for and added Enzo, the company wrote. The attorney general’s operatives were also the ones who looked for and added accounts with questionable usernames, such as “nudenude_22” and “xxx_tradehot.” In addition, Snap is accusing the office of “repeatedly [mischaracterizing]” its internal documents. The office apparently cited a document when it mentioned in its lawsuit that the company “consciously decided not to store child sex abuse images” and when it suggested that it doesn’t report and provide those images to law enforcement. Snap denied that it was the case and clarified that it’s not allowed to store child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) on its servers. It also said that it turns over such materials to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The New Mexico Department of Justice’s director of communications was not impressed with the company’s arguments. In a statement sent to The Verge, Lauren Rodriguez accused Snap of focusing on the minor details of the investigation in an “attempt to distract from the serious issues raised in the State’s case.” Rodriguez also said that “Snap continues to put profits over protecting children” instead of “addressing… critical issues with real change to their algorithms and design features.”

New Mexico came to the conclusion that Snapchat’s features “foster the sharing of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and facilitate child sexual exploitation” after a months-long investigation. It reported that it found a “vast network of dark web sites dedicated to sharing stolen, non-consensual sexual images from Snap” and that Snapchat was “by far” the biggest source of images and videos on the dark web sites that it had seen. The attorney general’s office called Snapchat “a breeding ground for predators to collect sexually explicit images of children and to find, groom and extort them.” Snap employees encounter 10,000 sextortion cases each month, the office’s lawsuit said, but the company allegedly doesn’t warn users so as not to “strike fear” among them. The complaint accused Snap’s upper management of ignoring former trust and safety employees who’d pushed for additional safety mechanisms, as well.

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New Mexico

Grass fire burning thousands of acres in Quay County

Published

2 hours ago

March 27, 2026

Press Room

Grass fire burning thousands of acres in Quay County

QUAY COUNTY, N.M. – A grass fire has burned an estimated 1,000-2,000 acres near San Jon in Quay County.

Emergency crews say the Old 66 Fire is threatening structures, and remains 0% contained.

The New Mexico Forestry Division said crews discovered the fire at 12:30 p.m. Friday, March 27 east of San Jon, north of Interstate 40 in Quay County.

Smoke is visible from Interstate 40 and surrounding areas.

The fire is on private land and the cause remains under investigation.

State Road 469 is closed at Main Avenue. Officials said local residents should use caution and avoid the area.

Structures threatened include a wind farm to the southwest.

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