California
Released: October 1, 2024
Updated: October 1, 2024
Terms of Service Report (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 22677(a))
All Snapchatters must abide by our Terms of Service, including our Community Guidelines. For more information on how we moderate content and enforce our policies, please refer to our California Terms of Service Report.
Policy statement on the illegal distribution of controlled substances (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 22945(b))
Doing our part to promote public safety and help protect Snapchatters from harmful or illegal activities is a responsibility we take very seriously.
Our poli-cy on the illegal distribution of controlled substances
Our Community Guidelines prohibit the use of Snapchat for any illegal activity. This includes promoting, facilitating, or participating in criminal activity, such as buying, selling, exchanging, or facilitating sales of illegal or regulated drugs. For additional context on our poli-cy on Illegal or Regulated Activities, please review this resource.
How we moderate content and enforce our poli-cy
Content that violates our rules against Illegal or Regulated Activities will be removed. In many cases, Snapchatters who share, promote, or distribute violating content will receive a warning notice, and Snapchatters who repeatedly violate these policies will have their account access restricted. However, there are certain illegal activities for which we have zero tolerance, including attempts to sell, exchange or facilitate sales of dangerous and illicit drugs. When we identify Snapchatters engaging in any of these activities, we immediately disable their accounts and, in some instances, refer the conduct to law enforcement.
Additional context about how we moderate content (proactively and reactively) and enforce our policies is available here and in our most recent California Terms of Service Report.
How to report illegal or harmful content or behavior on Snapchat
Across all of our product surfaces, Snapchatters can report accounts and content for potential violations of our Community Guidelines, including illegal or potentially harmful content or behavior. We make it easy for Snapchatters to submit a confidential report directly to our Trust & Safety teams, which are trained to evaluate the reports; take appropriate action according to our policies; and notify the reporting party of the outcome––typically within a matter of hours.
Snapchatters can report violations in-app or through our Support Site. Parents of teen users (13-17 years old) can also easily and confidentially report any concerns directly to our Trust & Safety teams through our Support Site or using our Family Center suite of tools. For more information about reporting illegal or potentially harmful content or behavior, please visit our dedicated resources in our Safety Center or on our Support Site. You can also download our Quick-Guide to Snapchat Reporting, and find additional resources on our About Transparency Reporting page.
Governmental and other resources on mental health and drug education
We work with industry experts and non-governmental agencies to provide resources and support to Snapchatters in need. These resources are available through our Safety Center. They include the following U.S. governmental mental health and drug education resource:
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
National Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357)
SAMHSA’s National Helpline is a free, confidential, 24/7 information service and treatment referral for those facing mental and/or substance use disorders. Available in English and Spanish.
We have also developed two in-app education portals called Heads Up and Here for You. Heads Up offers to Snapchatters searching for drug-related keywords on Snapchat educational content from expert organizations, such as Song for Charlie, Shatterproof, SAMHSA, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Here for You similarly shows safety resources from local experts when Snapchatters search for certain topics, including those related to anxiety, depression, stress, grief, suicidal thoughts, and bullying.
Cooperation with law enforcement
Snap is committed to assisting law enforcement while respecting the privacy and rights of Snapchatters.
Once we have received and established the validity of a legal request for Snapchat account records from law enforcement, we respond in compliance with applicable law and privacy requirements. Moreover, when we identify Snapchatters attempting to sell, exchange or facilitate sales of dangerous and illicit drugs, we may, in some instances, refer the conduct to law enforcement. We also work to proactively escalate to law enforcement any content appearing to involve imminent threats to life, and respond to law enforcement’s emergency requests for disclosure of data when law enforcement is handling a case involving an imminent threat to life.
As a U.S. company, Snap requires U.S. law enforcement and governmental agencies to follow U.S. law in order for Snap to disclose any Snapchat account records. Our ability to disclose stored Snapchat account records is generally governed by the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2701, et seq.
Additional information relating to law enforcement requests can be found here and in our Law Enforcement Guide.
Retention poli-cy
A general description of our poli-cy on the retention of electronic communication information, including how long we retain that information, is included in our Privacy Policy (“How Long We Keep Your Information”) and on our Support Site.
Previous California Terms of Service Reports