It has been nearly 11 years since a Georgia highway crash changed Wentworth Maynard’s life, and now Snapchat is being asked to answer for what happened.
The case is part of a growing push to hold social media companies accountable for the features they build, not just the people who use them. In November, a jury in Spalding County is expected to consider whether Snapchat’s former “Speed Filter” played a role in a crash that left Maynard with a severe brain injury, WSB-TV reported.
Back in 2015, the filter worked simply: film yourself using the Snapchat filter while driving, and it would document your speed.
An 18-year-old woman named Christal McGee was behind the wheel when she reached speeds of more than 100 mph and slammed into Maynard’s vehicle, according to the Guardian. A passenger later alleged McGee had been trying to reach 100 mph so she could capture the speed on Snapchat.
Then came the crash.
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Maynard, a Black man from Clayton County, was left with devastating injuries. He spent weeks in a coma and suffered a severe traumatic brain injury, the lawsuit says. The incident lasted seconds. Its consequences have lasted for more than a decade.
McGee was eventually ordered to pay $110,000 to the victims, according to WSB-TV. But Maynard’s family wasn’t finished.
They sued Snapchat, arguing that the company had created a feature that could encourage drivers to push their cars faster just to show off their speed online, according to the initial court documents.
That legal fight has taken years.
Snapchat initially managed to get the claims against it dismissed. But in 2022, the Georgia Supreme Court revived the case, finding that a company could potentially face a design-defect claim even when the immediate harm was caused by someone misusing its product, according to 11 Alive.
Now, a jury will have to consider whether Snapchat could have reasonably anticipated that its Speed Filter might encourage dangerous behavior and whether the design of the feature contributed to what happened to Maynard.
Snapchat disputes that argument in a statement shared with WSB-TV.
“We have deep sympathy for Mr. Maynard and his family and what they have experienced,” the statement began. “The evidence does not establish that Snapchat or the Speed Filter caused this collision. Importantly, the driver was not using Snapchat at or around the time of the collision, and any suggestion that Snapchat encouraged unsafe driving is simply wrong. We will continue to vigorously defend against claims that are unsupported by the evidence.”
The company eventually removed the Speed Filter in 2021 after years of controversy and lawsuits involving crashes allegedly connected to the feature. But years later, the issue is back in court, and the timing is particularly significant.
Social media companies are facing a much broader reckoning over accountability, with companies such as Meta confronting lawsuits that question whether harmful outcomes can be blamed entirely on users when the platforms themselves are designed to capture attention, encourage engagement or influence behavior, we previously told you.
The debate surrounding the Snapchat case and any others involving social media platforms focuses on accountability– where does the company’s responsibility end? And ultimately, who pays the price?
For Maynard and his family, this isn’t an abstract debate about technology, though. It is the question that has followed them since the day a car traveling more than 100 miles per hour came crashing into their lives.
This November, they will finally get to put that question before a jury.
