Kennedy, Johnson, Schwab, and Roberge has filed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, and Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat, as well as two convicted rapists related to the sexual exploitation and abuse of a minor girl.

The lawsuit alleges that the Instagram and Snapchat applications caused the minor plaintiff to become addicted to their products, resulting in emotional harm, and ultimately connected her with sexual predators who sexually exploited and abused her.

The firm seeks to hold the social media defendants responsible for their dangerous and defective social media products that are causing and contributing to the burgeoning mental health crisis perpetrated upon children and teenagers of the United States.

The suit alleges that the victim (whose name is being withheld to protect her privacy) was able to create an Instagram account and was introduced to a predator via Instagram’s product design when she was only 10 years old. That predator then coerced the plaintiff into sending explicit photos of herself.  When he wouldn't stop demanding photos, the girl attempted suicide "in the hopes of finding some escape," the lawsuit alleges.

Thereafter, the victim, through her use of Snapchat, was introduced to two different sexual predators who also coerced her to send explicit photos and to meet them in person, where she was sexually assaulted and abused. 

“Meta Platforms and Snap have specifically designed their products to addict their users and have failed to implement necessary safeguards to protect children, all of which has shown to have a significantly negative effect on children and teens,” said Attorney Michael Kennedy, a Partner at KJSR, based in New Haven, CT.  “With this case, we intend to hold these companies responsible for the harms that they have caused with these products.” 

When interviewed recently by the CT Post, Attorney Kennedy added “we feel this is a very significant case given everything that our client has gone through”. Read the full article in the ctpost here.

With the recent explosion of social media users in the past decade, it’s become clear that there are numerous harmful effects on [teens’] well-being with how much time they spend on these platforms. 

KJSR is devoted to protecting the well-being and safety of all children that use social media platforms and holding social media companies accountable for their actions (and inactions) which have, unfortunately, resulted in significant increases in anxiety and depression, cases of sexual assault, harassment, and suicide, mostly among adolescents.