Court Rules Snapchat Must Face Lawsuit Over Teens Killed Using Speed Filter

Courts rule Snapchat must face a lawsuit from families of two teens killed while driving at 113 MPH using Snapchat’s speed filter.

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Snapchat was once the most popping app on social media, connecting us with influencers and celebrities like we had never seen before. Nothing lasts forever and eventually, Instagram added the same features to their platform and Snapchat made changes that seemingly every user hated. While the usage declined, Snapchat still went hard with filters that kept many using the app. But sometimes, their filters missed the mark–like their Juneteenth filter, asking users to smile to break chains on themselves. This was the first sign that things were getting approved without full thought of the outcome.

That lack of thoughtfulness is now landing them in court for another filter that led to a deadly crash, Complex reports.

The court, per Reuters, ruled that the company behind Snapchat was not immune by way of the Communications Decency Act, which protects companies from being held accountable as publishers of the content found on their platforms. The decision marks a reversal of a previous dismissal in a lower court.

In 2017, three people—Jason Davis, the driver of the vehicle, as well as Hunter Morby and Landen Brown—were killed in Wisconsin when they ran off the road at an estimated speed of 113 miles per hour.

The basis for the lawsuit comes from Landen Brown opening Snapchat to use the filter before the wreck happened. Many would assume if the filter was never made, the kids would have not tried to use it and impress their friends by driving so fast. That brings in the question of the point of the filter in the first place. When you make a product for kids, you have to know they will try and make the number as big as possible. Maybe Snapchat can convince a court otherwise, but it’s not looking good for them already.

As you can see below, news reporters and stations have already called out how deadly this filter can be a long time ago.