Parents March To Snapchat’s Headquarters

WATCH – AN APP THAT CAN KILL? –

June 4, 2021 – She lost her son Alexander nearly a year ago and led the charge Friday in a march toward Snapchat’s headquarters in Santa Monica. But she was not alone.

Across the country there were rallies in 30 cities organized by the Association of People Against Lethal Drugs, including one in Riverside.

“There’s kids dying everywhere from this right now,” Sharleena Antunez, a mother, said. “And I lost my baby because of this.” Snapchat said it was trying to combat the problem by cooperating with law enforcement. In a statement, the company said, in part:

“We work to be as proactive as possible in preventing, detecting and combating this type of abuse, and are constantly improving our capabilities in this area.”

Marc Berkman, the CEO of the Organization for Social Media Safety, like many at the rallies, said what Snapchat and others are doing isn’t enough.

“What we’re trying to do here is we’re trying to save lives,” he said. “The things we’re working on right now is making sure that all social media platforms that have children operating on them allow parent safety software to add an extra layer of protection for parents.”

More about the steps Snapchat is taking to prevent drug dealers from operating on their platform can be found here.