Dozens of grief-stricken parents held a demonstration outside the corporate offices of Snapchat in Santa Monica, California, on Feb. 12, urging more action to protect young users of the popular social media platform.
Organizers said 43 parents participated, coming from multiple U.S. states; one came from the UK. Demonstrators held placards, sang, gave speeches, and painted names of 108 deceased children on the public roadway in large white letters. Those actions were taken to create “a memorial to honor their kids and call for stronger safety measures from the company,” a news release said.
Nearly all the participants were parents of youths who died from pills poisoned with fentanyl; those parents allege their children obtained those deadly doses from drug dealers on Snapchat. Some of the participants, including Amy Neville, are part of a lawsuit that remains pending against the social media platform. That suit alleges Snapchat is a defective product and that its design is faulty.
Neville’s son, Alexander, was a 14-year-old Snapchat user when fentanyl killed him in 2020. He obtained the pill from a dealer on Snapchat, his mother said. She has been on a crusade ever since, seeking to inform parents, pressure companies to change, and forge changes in laws.
“I think our children were honored beautifully today, in a way that sent a message to Snapchat and other social media companies. ... Safety has to be the priority,” Neville told The Epoch Times after the demonstration concluded.
