“Least you can do is take accountability”: Snapchat sued by mother of cyberbullied teen, Carson Bride, who killed himself

Snapchat has received a lawsuit from the mother of a teen alleging that the app and its additional services, YOLO and LMK, breached consumer protection laws and were negligent in protecting children against cyberbullying.

The legal action is in response to the unfortunate death of 16-year-old Carson Bride, who took his life after being cyberbullied on the multimedia messaging app last year.

According to the LA Times, the late teen received innumerable messages of taunts and sexual comments, which he couldn’t reply to since it resulted in the messages being made public on the app.

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Lawsuit seeks to ban Snapchat’s additional apps, YOLO and LMK

In June 2020, the teen took his life, and his last search history had him looking “Reveal YOLO Username Online” on the same day.

On May 10th, 2021, Carson Bride’s mother, Kristin Bride, filed the lawsuit with the Tyler Clementi Foundation, a non-profit founded after the death of an 18-year-old who took his own life in 2010, joining as co-plaintiff.

The proceedings by the plaintiffs seek to have YOLO and LMK banned from Snapchat and provide financial relief for damages caused to the victim’s family.

The statement from the Eisenberg & Baum firm read:

“The high school students who anonymously cyberbullied Carson will live with this tragedy for the rest of their lives. However, it is the executives at Snapchat, YOLO, and LMK irresponsibly putting profits over the mental health of young people who ultimately need to be held accountable.”

For those unaware, YOLO uses Snapchat services to allow users to post a photo and invite others to send anonymous messages. Similarly, LMK is a social networking app promoted as a community to chat with like-minded people.

YOLO faces a ban thanks to the case (Image via Popshow, Inc.)

It’s unclear if Snapchat, LMK, YOLO, or any one of the services could be held liable due to Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which protects “interactive computer service,” aka social media apps, from cases such as this.

However, last week’s ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals adjoined some culpability to corporations that provide dangerous features via their services.

The ruling was a response to a case that involved the deaths of two teens killed in a high-speed car accident, a result of using a snap filter that detects speed.

It’s saddening to know that Carson Bride’s last moments were spent looking for help on his phone.

So far, none of the apps have been removed from Snapchat. Neither have they responded when approached for a comment by LA Times.

According to the suit, Carson Bride’s mother made several unsuccessful attempts to contact YOLO regarding her son’s death. However, it resulted in no response from the app.

“If you create an app which provides a platform for the anonymous bullying of vulnerable teens, the very least you can do is take accountability and assist the parents of your app’s victims so that more YOLO deaths do not occur.”

So far, YOLO has been downloaded over 33 million times just in the US alone. LMK, meanwhile, has been downloaded over 5 million times.