SnapChat Hit With Wrongful Death Action Following Teen’s Suicide

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A woman has filed a wrongful death complaint against the owner of SnapChat, alleging its unsafe design led to her 13-year-old son’s suicide after he was targeted by a sexual predator on the social media platform.

In a May 17 complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, plaintiff Elizabeth Barnett accuses SNAP Inc. of disregarding her son Timothy’s safety by failing to “implement adequate age verification and other safeguards to protect vulnerable minor users from connecting with and being exploited by adult predators.”

“As a direct and foreseeable consequence of …