Nevada AG Sues Social Messaging App Over Alleged Harms to Children
Tech-holding company MediaLab.AI and its social messaging app Kik harm children through anonymous accounts that have become a haven for child predators, said Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford (D) in a lawsuit made public Tuesday.
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"For over a decade, the Kik app has positioned itself as an anonymous messaging app built for a teen audience," the complaint said. "Its initial point of differentiation from its competitors was its comparatively low barrier to entry for establishing an account: users did not need to authenticate their identity -- they did not have to provide either an email address or a telephone number to create an account on the platform," which "enabled children, who often had neither ... to create an account and instantly start communicating with others on the platform."
But this also makes the app ripe for child predators, the lawsuit said. "As one police officer explained in support of seeking a search warrant: 'Kik Messenger is frequently used by individuals who trade child pornography because it is free, simple to set up, easily accessible, potentially anonymous and allows users to share digital data privately.'”
Despite knowledge of this, the company offered no protection, the complaint added. And though "currently, Kik purports to no longer be a platform for teens, instead claiming that it is for users 18 and older ... it does nothing to meaningfully age gate Kik, and thus implicitly still courts a teen audience."
The suit, filed in Nevada, alleges violations of the state's Deceptive Trade Practices Act and counts of product liability, negligence and unjust enrichment, among other claims.
"The company’s actions and false claims of safety also put Nevada’s children in danger," said Ford in a press release Tuesday.
The Nevada AG's office has previously filed civil actions against YouTube -- in 2025 (see 2506170017) -- and TikTok, Snapchat and three Meta-owned platforms: Instagram, Facebook and Messenger in 2024 (see 2410080042 and 2403060040). Meanwhile, Minnesota's AG sued TikTok on Tuesday for allegedly harming children (see 2508190023).