This boy died after taking drugs he got on Snapchat. Now his parents are suing
Sheena Goodyear | CBC Radio | Posted: Thursday, October 19th, 2023 10:58 PM | Last Updated: 14 hours ago
Dozens of U.S. parents whose children died after taking drugs file lawsuits against Snapchat's parent company
Sam Chapman says he learned the hard way how easy it is for kids to access deadly drugs on Snapchat.
"We had no idea that, you know, a drug dealer could reach out to our son and offer him this colourful drug menu," told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. "And he delivered a lethal dose of fentanyl to our home, like a pizza."
The last time Chapman saw his 16-year-old son Sammy alive was Super Bowl Sunday in February 2021, when pandemic restrictions were in effect.
"The one benefit, we thought, of this horrible lockdown scenario was that our kids were safe in our home in their room," he said.
"I brought him his lunch, told him I love him. He said, 'I love you, too, Dad,' and about an hour and a half later, my youngest son found him dead on the floor."
Chapman tried in vain to revive his son with chest compressions, but it was too late. Sammy had died from fentanyl poisoning after taking a Xanax pill laced with the drug.
"And that was the end of our happiness," Chapman said.
Snapchat files to have lawsuits dismissed
Chapman and his wife, Laura Berman, are among dozens of U.S. parents suing Snapchat's parent company, Snap Inc., saying their children died from tainted drugs purchased through the platform.
Snap said it could not comment on pending litigation, but pointed CBC to its policies about working with law enforcement on criminal investigations, as well as safeguards designed to make it harder for strangers to contact minors on the platform.
"It is devastating that the national fentanyl epidemic has taken the lives of so many people and we have great empathy for families who have suffered unimaginable losses," a Snapchat spokesperson told CBC in an emailed statement.
"We are working hard to stop dealers from abusing our platform. We do this by deploying advanced technologies to proactively find and remove dealers, working closely with law enforcement, collaborating with other technology companies, and by having a zero-tolerance policy where we shut off the infringer's account."
Chapman's lawsuit is one of five filed against Snap Inc., by the Social Media Victims Law Center (SMVC) on behalf of 65 grieving parents.
The suit alleges that, because of built-in features like disappearing messages, drug sales to minors on this platform were, "the foreseeable result of the designs, structures and policies Snap chose to implement to increase its revenues."
"Snapchat has been an open-air drug market since the time it opened," SMVC lawyer Matthew Bergman told CBC. "The goal [of our lawsuit] is that ... no more parents have to bury their kids instead of having their kids bury them."
Chapman and his fellow plaintiffs attended a hearing on Wednesday at the Los Angeles Superior Courthouse.
A judge now has three months to either allow the suit to proceed or grant Snap's motion to have it dismissed under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields online platforms from responsibility for the illegal actions of their users.
If Chapman's suit proceeds, the other four will follow, Bergman said.
And if they win?
"Through the allocation of money damages, the economic incentives of Snapchat, we hope, will change so it will be cheaper for them to design safe products than dangerous ones," Bergman said.
"They clearly have decided to put profits over public safety."
Sammy's famous mother draws attention to cause
Chapman doesn't buy Snap's claims that it works with law enforcement to stem criminal activity on Snapchat.
He believes media attention generated by the case is what led the company to co-operate with police officers investigating his son's death.
Berman, Sammy's mother, is a sex and relationship therapist who hosts a nationally syndicated radio program and TV show on the Oprah Winfrey Network, and regularly appeared on both The Oprah Winfrey Show and Dr. Oz.
"We took the opportunity to warn our community on Instagram, and the media picked up on it," Chapman said. "And then we started going on TV and warning parents."
Soon, he says, he began hearing from other parents who shared their own horror stories of children who had died from tainted drugs they had acquired on Snapchat.
"The outreach was upsetting and heartbreaking," Chapman said.
Police told Chapman and Berman they were able to track down the person who sold Sammy the drugs that killed him, the father said. But, in 2021, the Los Angeles County District Attorney declined to press charges.
That means this lawsuit is their last chance at justice.
Whatever happens, Chapman says he and Berman plan to keep making noise.
The couple runs a Facebook group for grieving parents in similar situations as them that has more than 13,500 members. They're collaborating on a documentary about the dangers of Snapchat. They're lobbying politicians. And they're telling anyone who will listen to monitor and limit their children's social media use.
"Sammy was a sweet boy. He loved to fish. He loved football," Chapman said. "He was super smart and his hope was to be the world's first trillionaire."
Chapman says Sammy planned to study business at New York University when he graduated.
"None of those dreams are coming true," he said.
"The one benefit from all of this is that he didn't feel any pain. He just faded away from the fentanyl. And we're the ones who suffer."