When she was 16, Jasmine was not particularly interested in Snapchat, the then-new social media app that was all the rage among her friends. She signed up due to fear of missing out, just as she had done with Facebook at age 12. Now in her 20s, Jasmine tells Metro that while her teachers were aware of Facebook's dangers, they were not clued up about Snapchat.
'FOMO is the biggest thing when you're young,' she says. 'I can't come into school and hear, "Did you see what Charlotte posted?" Everyone saw it, so I need to see it, too.'
Snapchat media disappears within 24 hours unless screenshots are taken—something Jasmine's boyfriend did repeatedly. She met him on the app at 16 and communicated with him almost exclusively there, making every text and photo feel temporary. 'You could write the most abusive message in the world, and you send it on Snapchat. Well, I've got no evidence of that occurring,' she recalls.
Discovery of Leaked Images
After they broke up when Jasmine turned 18, she discovered her ex had been using a joint dating app to send her explicit images—ones he coerced her into sending on Snapchat—to others. She only found out when one of the dates contacted her on Instagram, concerned that 'something was off' with the images he had received.
'I didn't remember these images existed. Why is it even here? Why is there a Snapchat filter on it? What is going on?' Jasmine says. 'Who else has my Instagram? Who else has these images? Who else has my Snapchat? Who has my number?'
Although Snapchat notifies users when screenshots are taken, Jasmine had no idea her pictures were being shared with strangers. Her ex then harassed her, threatening to share more underage images.
Legal and Personal Aftermath
The nonconsensual sharing of explicit images, known as 'revenge porn,' is a criminal offence in the UK. Snapchat also prohibits sharing nude images of anyone under 18. Jasmine reported her ex to the police, and he was arrested. However, prosecutors said that without her testimony—which she found too traumatising—the case was weak. The ordeal led to years of depression for Jasmine.
Now recovered, she works with the NSPCC to promote online child safety. But she opposes the government's announced ban on social media for under-16s, including Snapchat.
Why a Ban Isn't the Solution
Jasmine doubts the ban would have stopped her ex from leaking her images. She believes that if not Snapchat, which has since tightened guidelines, something else would have been used. 'If we didn't have social media, we would have found a more dangerous way of doing things,' she says, referencing the dark web.
She also notes that outside, teens have fewer options as youth centres and playgrounds have closed. Teens have joked they will just stare at walls after the ban. Jasmine misses platforms like PictoChat and Club Penguin, which she describes as 'little safe boxes'—a 'third place' between home and school.
'Creating spaces which are safe is what we should be doing, not taking away things,' Jasmine says. 'We could put more money into things like reverse image searching—if that was around when it happened to me, I could have used it. That would have taken away all that fear of walking down the street and thinking, who has these images of me? Then maybe I would have felt braver to pursue a case.'
Expert Opinions and Snapchat's Response
The NSPCC found that of nearly 39,000 child sex abuse image crimes last year, 7,300 occurred on social media, with 50% on Snapchat. Snapchat removes such imagery and reports it to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. CEO Chris Sherwood hopes the ban will help but urges continued pressure on Big Tech.
Education expert Sophie Stocks warns that blocking access is ineffective. 'Playing whack-a-mole with individual tools and sites is not an effective way of trying to address the problem,' she says. 'Technology is the future and young people need to learn how to use it responsibly, not have their access blocked.'
Snap, owner of Snapchat, told Metro: 'Sexual exploitation of young people is an abhorrent crime, and we are committed to combating it. We prohibit sharing nude or sexually explicit images of anyone under 18, and tell our users never to send or save even their own sensitive images.' Regarding the ban, Snap added: 'We share the government's objective of protecting young people from online harm. However, because the majority of time spent on Snapchat is in private messaging between friends and family, an outright ban that disconnects teens from those relationships doesn't make them safer—it may simply push them to less safe platforms.'
*Name changed to protect anonymity.
