SOMI Sends Formal Warning Letter to Snapchat in Germany Over Child Safety and Files Complaint with Dutch Data Protection Authority

The press conference took place on Wednesday, September 16th, 2026, at the Steigenberger Hotel Am Kanzleramt in Berlin.

Protecting Children. Stopping Snapchat.

SOMI unveils its action against Snap in Germany. Click here to view the presentation.

This action against Snapchat focuses on fundamental flaws in the design of the platform itself. SOMI alleges that Snap has failed to follow the principles of "Inherently Safe Design", under which foreseeable risks should be eliminated or mitigated at the stage of product design rather than shifting the responsibility for managing those risks onto children, parents and schools. We believe that media literacy and parental supervision cannot be a substitute for a platform that is designed to be safe by default.

Our concerns go far beyond isolated failures, such as the neglect to suspend particular accounts or remove particular content. SOMI argues that deliberate product and design choices on Snapchat have created an environment in which criminals can operate and children can be exposed to serious risks. SOMI regards the evidence for this as overwhelming and places the responsibility for these corporate decisions at the centre of our action.

Legal grounds of the warning letter

The warning letter rests on five pillars of European and German law:

Duties of protection under the Digital Services Act

SOMI objects to the inadequate safeguards against grooming, criminal recruitment and offers of drugs and e-cigarettes. The relevant provisions are Article 28 DSA (protection of minors) and Articles 34 and 35 DSA (assessment and mitigation of systemic risks). The focus lies on contact features, recommender systems, default settings and the handling of user reports.

Exploitation of minors through prohibited AI systems

SOMI accuses Snap of using AI-driven recommendation algorithms to exploit the age-related vulnerability of children and adolescents. Personalised stimuli target the brain's reward system (the "dopamine cycle") and are designed to keep minors watching, coming back and interacting with dangerous content and individuals – even where continued use causes them significant harm. The EU's AI Act is intended to protect children from precisely such automated systems.

Violations of German youth protection law

SOMI is further pursuing breaches of the Interstate Treaty on the Protection of Minors in the Media (Sections 4 and 5 JMStV): access to pornographic and other prohibited content, and inadequate protection against content that impairs the development of minors. Since the amendment of December 1st, 2025, Section 5 JMStV expressly covers risks arising from contact features and from mechanisms that encourage excessive media use. With regard to alcohol and e-cigarettes, the sales and marketing prohibitions of Sections 9 and 10 of the Protection of Young Persons Act (JuSchG) apply in addition.

Unlawful processing of children's data

SOMI is taking action against the unlawful collection and use of personal data – in particular profiling, use for advertising purposes and the use of conversations with the chatbot "My AI" for AI training.

Snap's own liability for user content

SOMI also relies on the rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Russmedia (December 2nd, 2025) and WebGroup/Coyote (June 16th, 2026) on the platform operator's own responsibility under data protection law and on the limits of the liability exemption for hosting providers. Measured against these standards, SOMI considers Snap directly liable for the unlawful conduct of criminal users: an operator that itself decides how data is processed and how content is disseminated cannot escape responsibility by pointing out that the content was uploaded by users.

On March 26th, 2026, the European Commission opened formal proceedings against Snap. It is examining potential infringements of the Digital Services Act (DSA) with respect to age verification, protection against grooming and criminal recruitment, default account settings, offers of prohibited or age-restricted products, and the reporting of illegal content. Earlier on September 9th, 2025, the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) had launched an investigation into the sale of e-cigarettes to minors via Snapchat.

SOMI considers the European Commission's intervention long overdue and the response of the German authorities unduly hesitant. Despite numerous indications of potentially unlawful conduct, effective enforcement has yet to materialise. The competent authorities in Germany must use their powers to investigate potential breaches, take appropriate enforcement action and ensure meaningful protection for children. Ongoing proceedings at the European level should not prevent or delay action at the national level.

SOMI seeks to bring unlawful practices to an end, to compel concrete changes to Snapchat, and to assert the damages claims of those affected by way of collective proceedings – and to do so throughout Europe.

Next steps

Should Snap fail to address these concerns, SOMI reserves the right to take further legal action, including seeking injunctive relief and redress, and filing complaints with the relevant authorities in Germany where appropriate.

SOMI calls on parents whose children use Snapchat, as well as anyone who has experienced negative effects from the platform, to come forward and submit their evidence or personal statement to stopsnapchat@somi.nl.

Ongoing Actions in the Netherlands and France

On June 9th, 2026, SOMI initiated collective proceedings against Snapchat before the District Court of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. As Snap B.V., Snapchat's European headquarters, is based in Amsterdam, SOMI expanded the Dutch proceedings on September 8th to represent victims from other European countries on an opt-in basis.

Today, SOMI has filed a complaint with the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens) concerning Snapchat's practices. The complaint addresses the same concerns raised in SOMI's legal actions, including child safety, addictive design and data protection.

In France, SOMI issued a similar warning to Snapchat in May 2026 as part of its broader efforts to address these concerns across Europe.