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A lawsuit filed earlier this month by the Social Media Victims Law Center (SMVLC) alleges the deaths of eight people between the ages of 15 and 22 from fentanyl-filled pills purchased via Snapchat.
The Center filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court earlier this month against a social media app whose user-submitted photos and messages disappear immediately or at a specified time.
“The Social Media Victims Law Center has issued a statement to Snap, Inc. and its social media product, Snapchat, against the sale of illegal drugs on its site and without fear of drug dealers facing criminal justice.” We remain legally responsible for the features that enable us to operate,” SMVLC founding attorney Matthew Bergman said in a statement.
He continued: “Snapchat will stop linking drug dealers with minors and young adults who don’t know they’re buying drugs laced with deadly levels of fentanyl and playing Russian roulette. Therefore, we need to act immediately.”
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A new lawsuit has emerged alleging that Snapchat facilitated the sale of a fentanyl-laced drug that has killed eight people in six states.
(Nicholas Cocovlis/NurPhoto)
Each victim named in the case apparently believed they were buying prescription drugs such as Percocet, Oxycodone, and Xanax, but instead received illegal opioids that are 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. I received a mixed pill.
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The lawsuit alleges that Snapchat’s features, including the ability to send messages that disappear automatically when the recipient opens them, facilitate the sale of illegal drugs, including those containing lethal doses of fentanyl, to children and adolescents. ing.
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Along with the ability to create anonymous usernames and send encrypted coded messages using emojis, the Disappear feature is a law enforcement effort to track drug dealers who sell illegal products. also make it complicated.
One of the victims, 15-year-old Michael Stabile, died after purchasing what he believed to be Percocet pills from a Snapchat dealer out of curiosity. The pill contained fentanyl and he died after ingesting it.
Each of the victims named in the incident believed they were buying prescription drugs such as Percocet, Oxycodone, and Xanax, but instead received illegal opioids that are 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. I received a mixed pill.
(NYC Special Drug Prosecutor’s Office)
Snap, Inc. did not immediately respond to inquiries from Fox News Digital, but the company told The Sacramento Bee that it “uses state-of-the-art technology to proactively locate drug dealer accounts. We are closing down and blocking drug search results.” Redirect Snapchatters to resources from experts on the dangers of fentanyl. “
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“We also expanded our support for law enforcement investigations, promoted an in-app educational video warning of the dangers of counterfeit drugs that has over 260 million views on Snapchat, and supported the Ad Council, the non-profit groups, and other platforms about an unprecedented public awareness campaign that launched in October,” a Snap spokesperson told the outlet.
In December, the National Crime Prevention Council asked the Justice Department to look into Snap Inc., calling the app “the platform of choice for fentanyl drug dealers” in a press release.
A reporter gives an example of a lethal dose of fentanyl after a press conference on the number of deaths from fentanyl exposure at DEA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, June 6, 2017.
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, files)
NCPC Executive Director Paul Delponte said in a letter the group wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland, “Drug dealers are using US technological innovations to sell deadly products. “Time is of the essence. In about the same amount of time it takes you to read this letter, someone will die from fentanyl poisoning for buying fake pills on social media platforms like Snapchat.”
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A new analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data from Families Against Fentanyl (FAF), a nonprofit that raises awareness about deadly opioids, finds that fentanyl addiction among children under 14 in the United States is was found to increase more rapidly than at any age. Demographics 2019 to 2021 – latest year of data on opioid deaths from CDC.
SMVLC has sued several social media companies, including TikTok, DIscord, and Meta, alleging that they contributed to youth mental health crises, suicides, and other tragedies through their addictive designs.
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