CHARLESTON – West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey is launching another social media lawsuit, this time against the communications app Snapchat, on the eve of the anniversary of the death of a teenager last year who was sextorted through the app.
In a press conference Thursday afternoon in front of the Attorney General’s Office at the State Capitol Building, McCuskey said his office filed a lawsuit Thursday in Kanawha County Circuit Court against Snap, Inc., the parent company of Snapchat, alleging that the platform deceptively markets its safety features while exposing young users to predators.
“We will not allow businesses to harm our people, particularly our children, and this business is no different,” McCuskey said. They are pushing a product to our kids and promising that there are safety guidelines that are not in place. They have deceived West Virginia parents and children about the safety of Snapchat while exposing kids to sexual exploitation, harmful content, and their design is designed to keep kids addicted to the feed.”
Bringing the case via the state’s Consumer Credit and Protection Act, McCuskey claimed that Snapchat’s own internal review acknowledged that grooming of children by child predators was prominent on the platform, with 96% of abuse reports to Snapchat getting no review. Citing testimony to Congress, McCuskey said that Snapchat’s trust and safety team was stretched thin despite telling lawmakers the team was working around the clock to ensure the safety of children on the platform.
McCuskey also raised concerns about “My AI,” a chatbot released by Snapchat aimed at children, accusing the platform of inadequate safety testing of the artificial intelligence chatbot and purposely misleading parents about what Snapchat does with private conversations and location data.
“My AI … was rushed to launch without adequate safety or testing of the AI,” McCuskey said. “This AI can access a child’s location, even when that location is turned off, and shares the user’s private conversations with other companies.”
The Attorney General’s Office is seeking civil penalties be imposed against Snapchat, as well as injunctive relief to put in place guardrails around the social media app to protect children and empower parents. A request for comment by Snap, Inc., was not returned.
“We take the safety of children in West Virginia very seriously. Enough is enough,” McCuskey said.
The lawsuit comes as the family marks one year since the death of 15-year-old Bryce Tate, a student at Nitro High School. On Nov. 6, 2025, Bryce committed suicide after being targeted with a sextortion scheme by an individual on Snapchat. According to reports, Bryce was groomed by someone posing as a 17-year-old girl, with Bryce sending photos to the individual.
Once the photos were received, the individual blackmailed Bryce, seeking a $500 payout or the photos would be sent to his family and released to the public. According to his father Adam, the individual sent approximately 120 messages to Bryce over a short period of time. Despite offering various amounts of money, the individual pressured Bryce to take his own life.
“There’s a reason as to why these criminals choose this platform to target our children, and that’s because there aren’t enough safety guardrails in place,” said Adam, president of the Bryce Tate Memorial Foundation. “Not only did I lose my son in a matter of three hours from being targeted just on Snapchat. But we also know of other families that have lost their children to the same crime, sextortion, through Snapchat as well.”
“He was an honor student, an athlete, a devout Christian, a friend, and a devoted son to his parents, Adam and Amanda,” McCuskey said. “What happened to Bryce was an unthinkable tragedy that should have never happened and should never happen to another child here in West Virginia. But the unfortunate reality is … It’s happening today, right here in West Virginia and across our entire country.”
McCuskey cited another sextortion case in West Virginia. Cimarron Thomas, a 12-year-old from Bruceton Mills, committed suicide in 2018 after United Kingdom citizen Alexander McCartney obtained sexual material from the girl and threatened to expose her unless she followed his commands. Thomas blocked McCartney, but he began messaging her from a different account. The two engaged in a two-hour back-and-forth, but she was later found dead by her nine-year-old sister.
McCuskey’s Snapchat lawsuit is one of several lawsuits and settlements by the Attorney General’s Office. Most recently, McCuskey has filed civil complaints against TikTok and Open AI, the creators of Chat GPT. The Attorney General’s Office has also entered into settlements with Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, as well as popular social media game Roblox.
McCuskey and the Bryce Tate Memorial Foundation announced Thursday that money from the Meta and Roblox settlements would go toward the Sheild Initiative, an education campaign for public school students on the dangers of social media and sextortion. The initiative encourages children to “stop” and not comply with the sextortion demand; “screenshot” the demands and preserve the evidence; and “show someone” and tell a trusted adult, such as a parent or teacher.
“If kids and parents know how to identify sextortion, then the hope is they can ask for help before it’s too late,” McCuskey said. “We will be using consumer education dollars from our previous lawsuits against social media companies earmarked for the specific type of education. The message to every young person and to every parent is your child hasn’t done anything wrong. The person threatening your child has broken the law. You deserve help. And the message to parents and educators, talk to your kids.”
“The reason as to why we developed (Shield) is because we see that these crimes happen so quickly,” Adam Tate said. “We did all the right things, if you look at it on paper, but it still wasn’t enough to protect our son. That’s why the education aspect is so important. You need to have this conversation with your kids prior to them being targeted.”
“It’s really just about the start of a great relationship and us combating a threat that is overwhelming to our children,” said Michael Pauley, vice president of the Bryce Tate Memorial Foundation. You have our commitment today … that will be our mission moving forward. And I’m honored to do so on behalf of the Tate family.”
The West Virginia Legislature increased the criminal penalties in 2025 for sextortion and aggravated sextortion when the death of a victim is involved. Both are felony crimes, with someone found guilty of aggravated sextortion facing between 10 and 20 years in prison. Last year, the Legislature passed House Bill 4842, allowing families to sue sextortion perpetrators.
Speaking during Thursday’s press conference, House Judiciary Committee Chairman JB Akers said he would introduce legislation during the 2027 regular session to add another crime to State Code: sadistic online exploitation, when a predator convinces a victim to commit self-harm or suicide without using blackmail.
“It simply involves trying to convince another person to harm or kill themselves through online predation,” said Akers, R-Kanawha. “I have a bill drafted already … that if you are found guilty of sadistic online exploitation in West Virginia, and that results in the death of your victim, then you’ll get life in prison as well. You take a life, you’re going to get life. That’s the way it goes in this state.”
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