Oregon Mother Suing Snapchat Over Son's Suicide

BOISE, ID — A ruling by the federal district court in which Idaho is included has opened the door for a mother's lawsuit against an app popular with teens.

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Carson Bride was a 16-year-old student in Portland. For months, according to the lawsuit, he had been receiving anonymous messages on Snapchat through an app called YOLO. The messages made fun of a time he fainted in class and included sexual comments.

Due to the app's design, Bride was unable to determine who was sending the messages. Any reply he made on the app to the taunts became public, increasing the number of people able to see all the messages.

Bride took his life on June 23, 2020. His family found he had been searching how to reveal usernames on YOLO in the history of his phone.

Bride's mother, Kristin Bride, has now filed a lawsuit against Snap, YOLO, and LMK, another messaging app used on Snapchat and anonymous. Bride states in her lawsuit the companies violated consumer protection laws and requests the apps be considered dangerous products as anonymous useage promotes online bullying.

The suit was filed Monday, May 10, and requests a class action be used in the court proceedings representing the 93 million users in the U.S. The lawsuit requests YOLO and LMK be banned from Snapchat's platform immediately plus damages.

Lawsuits against social media companies are not new and have met with little success. However, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled recently social media companies can be held responsible for including features that are dangerous to users. The ruling came from a case in which a driver was clocking his speed in a vehicle on the Snapchat app. Driving 123 mph, he hit a tree and died.

Reversing a lower court's decision, Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw wrote "this type of claim rests on he premise that manufacturers have a 'duty to exercise due care in supplying products that to not present unreasonable risk of injury or harm to the public.'"

Bride's lawsuit points out a 2014 study showing online bullying triples the suicide rate.

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