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New Mexico has filed a lawsuit against Snapchat, accusing the company of facilitating child sexual exploitation.

What’s the deal: New Mexico is accusing Snap Inc. of enabling child sexual exploitation through its Snapchat platform. The lawsuit argues that features like disappearing messages create a deceptive sense of safety, which predators use to solicit and extort explicit images from minors.

Undercover investigation: New Mexico’s Department of Justice uncovered a network of websites on the dark web trafficking nonconsensual images from Snapchat. The investigation found that predators used Snapchat’s disappearing messages to exploit minors and collect explicit images. These images were then stored and shared across illicit networks. According to the state, over 10,000 photos were discovered in the past year.

What the state wants: New Mexico’s lawsuit seeks to force Snap to reform its platform’s design to better protect children from abuse and exploitation.

Snapchat comments: A spokeswoman for Snapchat said, “We share Attorney General Torrez’s and the public’s concerns about the online safety of young people and are deeply committed to Snapchat being a safe and positive place for our entire community, particularly for our younger users.”

Attorney General comments: In a statement following the lawsuit’s filing, New Mexico’s Attorney General said, “Snap may claim that Snapchat is unlike other social media, but those claims are false and knowingly so. Snap’s conduct is not only dangerously deceptive; it is unlawful.”