A Philadelphia law firm has filed a federal lawsuit against three major technology companies, alleging their platforms enabled the sexual exploitation of a teenage girl through design features that made it easier for predators to identify and target minors, according to a press release from Anapol Weiss and the complaint.
Anapol Weiss said it filed the lawsuit against Roblox Corporation, Discord Inc., and Snap Inc. on behalf of a now-15-year-old girl from North Carolina. The complaint alleges that features across the platforms allowed predators to locate, contact, and ultimately exploit the minor.
According to the complaint, the girl was first contacted on Roblox by an adult who used the platform’s communication tools to initiate contact. The filing states he later coerced her into sending sexually explicit images via Discord. A second individual then found her on Snapchat, where he allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted her multiple times, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit alleges that the abuse stemmed from platform design decisions, including broad communication access, ineffective age-verification systems, and features that facilitate connections between minors and unknown adults.
The companies marketed their platforms as safe for younger users while failing to adopt widely available safeguards, the complaint alleges. The filing further claims that internal safety concerns were outweighed by business considerations, including the potential effect of stricter protections on user engagement and growth.
“Parents were repeatedly assured that these platforms were safe for children,” said Alexandra Walsh, co-lead counsel in the national centralized litigation, in a statement included in the press release. “These systems instead made it remarkably easy for predators to find and exploit minors.”
The complaint describes significant and ongoing psychological harm to the minor, including the need for continued medical and therapeutic care.
“Technology companies cannot profit from young users while disregarding known risks,” said Patrick Huyett, who leads day-to-day litigation for Anapol Weiss, in a statement released by the firm.
The case is part of a broader legal effort by Anapol Weiss, which said it has filed 22 lawsuits against the three companies and holds a leadership role in centralized federal litigation involving more than 100 cases. Those lawsuits similarly allege that Roblox, Discord, and Snap enabled the sexual exploitation of children through unsafe platform design, according to the firm.
Anapol Weiss said it was among the first law firms to bring such claims against major gaming and social platforms and continues to play a leading role in the litigation.
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