A teenager from New Hampshire is suing the company behind the popular messaging app Snapchat, alleging she was misled into taking and saving explicit photos that were later hacked.
The suit, filed under a pseudonym, alleges that Snap’s “My Eyes Only” feature, which purportedly allows users to save photos in a private vault, encourages people to store explicit images.
The plaintiff’s account was hacked in 2021 and images stored inside her “My Eyes Only” were shared online, leading to harassment and extortion threats from strangers, according to court records.
The teenager, who is now 19 years old, along with her mother, allege Snap should be held liable for the emotional distress caused by the hack, and that the product violates New Hampshire’s consumer protection laws.
“When Snap designed, it knew or should have known that My Eyes Only extended the false sense of security provided by the ephemerality feature of Snapchat to further encourage youth users to create and save sexually explicit and other sensitive content of themselves on their accounts, while keeping the content hidden from their parents,” the lawsuit alleges.
Snap didn’t respond to a request for comment. The company has faced other lawsuits, including allegations its design is intentionally addictive for minors.
With nearly 1 billion users worldwide, the messaging app allows users to send images and videos that disappear. The lawsuit in New Hampshire, which was filed by lawyers from the Public Health Advocacy Institute, alleges the format entices minors to create and share explicit materials.
After her account was hacked, "Sophie Doe," the plaintiff, was contacted by strangers who threatened to repost the photos or contact her parents, if she didn't share more explicit photos.
“Keeping this secret took a tremendous emotional and physical toll on Sophie Doe, who became severely depressed, anxious, and traumatized by the constant threats and unwanted contacts from strangers, predators, and others who repeatedly threatened her with her My Eyes Only pictures,” her lawyers said in court records.
The plaintiffs are seeking damages, as well as an injunction requiring Snap to institute additional protections for minors who may face exploitation.
In 2025, authorities in Ohio arrested a man suspected of hacking into another minor’s phone, and found evidence he had also targeted Sophie. Authorities informed her mother, who was not at the time aware of her own daughter’s ordeal. The suspect, Andrew Venegas, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for sexually exploiting Sophie and other victims.
