Snapchat said what researchers found when they signed up for the app was not a balanced assessment, despite an overwhelming amount of “unsafe” content reportedly being shown to teens.

A study from ParentsTogether Action and the Heat Initiative has revealed that new Snapchat accounts meant for 13-year-olds are allegedly recommended a bounty of violence, sex, and drug-themed content as soon as they sign up.

‘A systematic failure to keep kids safe on Snapchat.’

The adult researchers say they created Snapchat accounts registered as 13-year-old users with no saved contacts and used avatars, not real photos, before documenting their interactions with recommended accounts and videos.

The users watched one hour of Snapchat’s recommended “Spotlight” videos and one hour of videos on Snapchat Stories and said that “within the first minute,” the accounts were suggested unsafe content.

Unsafe content was defined as being sexual in nature, promoting depression or self-harm, containing drug use/alcohol/violence, promoting plastic surgery, and more.

There was reportedly no shortage of such material, as researchers said they were recommended 739 unsafe videos that included 244 sexual videos and 257 videos about drugs or alcohol.

Some of the content showed bags of marijuana, allegedly underage teens using drugs, and even teens talking about killing themselves.

Other sexual content contained one girl talking about being a “dirty little slut,” while another talked about her experience with anal sex.

Additionally, Snapchat also “recommended adults who were using their Snapchat accounts to promote adult-oriented businesses, including shoes and costumes for exotic dancers, a burlesque club, and lingerie modeling.”

This was in addition to content showing very young girls in revealing outfits doing dances or trying on outfits. Many comments sexualized the young girls and used pizza-related emojis, which is allegedly a veiled reference to pedophilia.

RELATED: The KIDS Act would turn web browsing into a TSA line

Images courtesy of ParentsTogether Action and Heat Initiative

NBC’s “Today” ran a segment that stated half of Americans ages 13-17 say they use Snapchat every day. The program interviewed three teenagers who said they joined Snapchat before turning 13 years old, with one girl saying it is “normal” to see “extremely hyper-sexual” and “extremely violent” content on the app.

“I think it’s kind of omnipresent,” a male teen said about the content.

Showing kids this type of content, the teenager argued, has “redefined” kids to be “unsurprised by vile … acts.”

One teen named Emma said she often gets added by strangers who “most of the time” send her pictures of their “anatomy.”

Snapchat told “Today” that it automatically makes young peoples’ accounts private and undiscoverable by adult strangers. Snapchat also said it “will not connect adults with underage users unless they have three mutual contacts.”

Snapchat further told “Today” that the report is “based on a handful of ‘researcher’-created accounts,” which “does not provide a balanced or representative assessment of teen safety on Snapchat.”

Snapchat insisted that “no single safety feature or policy can eliminate every potential risk,” adding that the company continues to “invest in new protections and work closely with safety experts, law enforcement, parents, and policymakers … to keep all Snapchatters safe.”

RELATED: US company will use Chinese humanoid robots at Michigan data center

Image courtesy of ParentsTogether Action and Heat Initiative

“Our research makes clear that Snapchat’s own product design, particularly its recommendation algorithms, consistently puts children in harm’s way, sometimes within minutes of joining the platform,” said Heat Initiative President Brooke Istook in a statement to Blaze News.

Istook added, “Parents have been sounding the alarm for years. Lawsuits have documented the harms. Children continue to be targeted, exploited, and exposed to dangerous content because Snap has not fixed the systems that cause these risks.”

Shelby Knox, director of online safety for ParentsTogether Action, said in a statement that what researchers found “wasn’t just disturbing; it was a systematic failure to keep kids safe on Snapchat.”

The organizations called for Snapchat to redesign its platform with safer defaults and recommendations.

Snapchat did not respond to a request for comment by Blaze News.

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​News, Snapchat, Social media, Child safety, Tech 

Just when the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team looked to be shorthanded going into its next World Cup match, FIFA made a shocking announcement.

Though the team won 2-0 against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday, the victory was bittersweet for the United States given that lead scorer Folarin Balogun received a red card in the 64th minute, which came with a suspension for the next match.

‘It’s a bad, bad, bad, bad decision.’

Just a day before their pivotal round-of-16 match against Belgium, the Americans learned they could breathe a sigh of relief knowing that FIFA had concluded, following a review, that Balogun’s foul was no longer worthy of a suspension.

The FIFA disciplinary committee announced it would instead place Balogun on a probationary period, allegedly after President Donald Trump gave FIFA President Gianni Infantino a call following Wednesday’s game.

Trump called Infantino to ask if FIFA’s governing body would review the red card, the Associated Press reported, while Fox News similarly reported this to be the case, citing an inside source.

“In line with article 27 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, the implementation of the match suspension is suspended for a probationary period of one year,” FIFA said in a statement, per NBC News. “If Folarin Balogun commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period, the suspension shall be revoked and the sanction enforced without prejudice to any additional sanction imposed for the new infringement.”

Trump reacted to the news on Sunday afternoon with a post on Truth Social that read, “Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!”

RELATED: Trump’s USA World Cup watch party a raucous hit on National Mall

Adding controversy to the story is the fact that referee Raphael Claus — who issued the red card to Balogun — has been involved in an investigation surrounding match-fixing in Brazil.

The New York Post reported that Claus was summoned as a witness in a match-fixing and sports-betting investigation in 2024, in which multiple soccer teams had raised concerns over his in-match decisions and issuance of cards. However, Claus was found not guilty and faced no charges or punishments as investigators reportedly found no direct evidence that linked him to any such schemes.

Claus refereed in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, too.

Neither the Brazilian Football Confederation nor FIFA responded to a request for comment from Blaze News.

Reactions

Belgium head coach Rudi Garcia was described by the Associated Press as mocking FIFA’s decision, comparing it to an April Fool’s joke: “I didn’t know that in the offices of FIFA the 5th of July was the 1st of April in Europe.”

Garcia added, “The Belgian federation does not defend itself; it does not protect the national team. She defends football in general, she defends her integrity, her ethics. I think it’s the first time in the history of the World Cup that there is this kind of decision.”

The Royal Belgian Football Association said it was “astonished” by the decision and that it was “investigating all potential options.”

RELATED: NFL legend Chris Johnson, father of 4, reveals devastating diagnosis: ‘I can’t even hold a cup’

The United States Soccer Federation said it was “pleased” by FIFA’s decision to reinstate Balogun, according to NBC News.

“We accept the decision of the Disciplinary Committee and are pleased that Folarin Balogun is eligible to compete [Monday],” the statement said. “Our full attention is focused on the Round of 16 match against Belgium in Seattle, and we look forward to the continued support of our amazing fans.”

At the same time, Norway head coach Stale Solbakken said FIFA rescinding the suspension was a “bad decision” that would tarnish a U.S. victory, should the team prevail against Belgium.

“It’s a bad, bad, bad, bad decision for the World Cup, and I feel sorry for the U.S., because if they win, the result will always be looked at in that way,” Solbakken said, per ESPN.

Soccer legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic said the red card should never have been given in the first place.

The United States and Belgium play at 8 p.m. ET on Monday at Lumen Field in Seattle.

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​Fearless, World cup, Team usa, Soccer, Donald trump, Fifa, Belgium, Sports, Politics 

Two female police officers were assaulted and injured in a July 4 mob attack in South Carolina that was caught on video. Authorities also recovered guns as well as a spear.

The North Charleston Police Department said the city had permitted a neighborhood block party. Police said its leadership met with block party organizers to discuss the event, including traffic and parking plans to ensure emergency vehicles could safely access the area if needed.

‘We can’t attack and jump on a police officer who was just trying to do her job and beat her like that, like a mob. That just can’t happen.’

But police said around 8:30 p.m., officers began receiving reports of gunfire and individuals shooting fireworks toward passing vehicles.

Officers responded immediately, and attendees told them that several people had begun discharging firearms, police said, adding that officers made repeated public announcements advising that the event had ended and directing attendees to leave the area safely, in an attempt to de-escalate the situation.

Police said that despite those efforts, multiple fights broke out and additional gunshots were fired.

Officers exited their patrol vehicles to intervene, separate individuals involved in fights, and restore order and protect the public, police said, adding that during the response, multiple firearms and a makeshift spear were recovered.

Police said “multiple officers were physically assaulted, with two female officers sustaining minor injuries,” and “several attendees were arrested as a result of their own actions.”

The following is cellphone video of the physical attacks:

RELATED: Bodycam video: Thug ambushes, repeatedly stabs Florida deputy. Sheriff’s office reveals what ultimately saved deputy’s life.

Police said other law enforcement agencies — including the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office, the Charleston Police Department, the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office, and the South Carolina Highway Patrol — responded to assist the North Charleston Police Department.

“Attacks on law enforcement are unacceptable, and those responsible will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” police said. “The safety of our residents and visitors remains our highest priority.”

Police also said “we especially thank those from the community who helped officers during the attacks.”

WCSC-TV reported that the attacks occurred near Chicora Community Park on Calvert Street — and that police said the event had been held in the same location for about 10 years without incident.

About 400 people were present at the scene, police told WCSC.

North Charleston Police Chief Ron Camacho told the station that the two female officers who were injured “are fine. They’re working.”

Three juveniles and one adult were arrested, Camacho added to WCSC, saying that “at least one or two of those arrests were for assaulting an officer.”

Camacho also told the station that additional arrests are expected as investigators review body-camera video: “What you got on that social media, you’re looking at one little snippet, at one little video. We were out there for an extended period of time.”

Community advocate Elvin Speights told WCSC he was shaken after watching the video circulate online: “A lot of emotions. Ashamed. Disgraced. I’m very pleased that no one was seriously hurt. That could have gone really bad.”

Speights added to the station that “we just can’t do that. We can’t attack and jump on a police officer who was just trying to do her job and beat her like that, like a mob. That just can’t happen.”

Speights also told WCSC the police response was admirable: “I just wanted to give a huge shout-out to that officer who showed humongous restraint on not going out here and pulling her gun and start shooting. The North Charleston Police Department as a whole — no one was seriously hurt. They showed a lot of restraint.”

Camacho told the station that police had prior intelligence that juveniles were planning to engage in fights using fireworks in the area that night — but were not prepared for the scale of what took place at the block party.

“We were not ready for this,” Camacho noted to WCSC.

More from the station:

The chief said the department has already made policy changes in how officers respond to calls involving juveniles, including requiring higher-ranking officers — corporals, sergeants or lieutenants — to respond to certain juvenile-related calls in an effort to lower the temperature of those interactions.

“We need some help,” Camacho told WCSC. “We really do. We need some help from the community. Because stuff like this is getting dangerous.”

Camacho also told the the station that unruly juveniles are “the most difficult thing that I’ve had to deal with in my policing career.” He added to WCSC that he plans to meet with community leaders soon to discuss solutions.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson had the following to say on X regarding the incident, according to the station:

The violence we witnessed in North Charleston is unacceptable. There is no place in South Carolina for mob violence or attacks on law enforcement.

Anyone who assaults a police officer, fires a weapon into a crowd, or threatens public safety should be arrested, prosecuted, and held fully accountable.

South Carolina is a state of law and order. We will not tolerate mob rule.

Those with additional information about the individuals involved in the shootings or other criminal activity are encouraged to contact authorities through the CRIMEWATCH app, WCSC reported.

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​Physical attack, Assault, South carolina, North charleston, July 4, Block party, Mob attack, Police officers assaulted, Crime 

An 84-year-old Bartow, Florida, man is suing Waffle House after he says a window advertisement for the chain’s limited-edition strawberry shortcake waffle proved more powerful than his own legs.

Edward Bowlds was crossing the parking lot with his wife on April 17, 2025, when the promo display caught his eye. While his attention stayed locked on the waffle, his feet found an “abnormally high” curb with no paint or markings to warn him it was coming — and down he went, the lawsuit filed earlier this year claimed.

It would be ‘disingenuous for Waffle House to suggest that Mr. Bowlds should have been watching where he was walking,’ letter claims.

The lawsuit doesn’t hold back on the marketing critique, either. The ad was, according to the lawsuit, sized and placed specifically to grab the attention of customers who had already parked — a strawberry-frosted trap, apparently, for anyone weak enough to glance at it.

A pre-lawsuit demand letter put it more bluntly: It would be “disingenuous for Waffle House to suggest that Mr. Bowlds should have been watching where he was walking when it was Waffle House who distracted his attention away from where he was walking.”

RELATED: America has culture — just ask the World Cup fans discovering Waffle House

Nicole Craine/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The fall allegedly left Bowlds with a fractured nose and a torn rotator cuff, and his attorney says the injuries have taken a real toll — he is largely confined to a recliner now and can’t help his wife with groceries or yard work like he used to, the letter claimed.

Bowlds and his wife reportedly sought a $300,000 settlement before filing suit. Waffle House declined, and now a jury will get to decide just how irresistible a picture of a waffle can legally be.

Waffle House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

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​Lawsuit, Settlement, Politics, Florida 

George Will has called it “one of the half-dozen best speeches ever given by an American president.” Calvin Coolidge gave it in Philadelphia on a Monday, to a crowd of 35,000, in a voice one reporter described as “as unemotional as Fate.”

Calvin Coolidge holds a unique distinction. He is the only U.S. president born on the Fourth of July. But the year in question, his birthday landed on a Sunday — and for Coolidge, a Calvinist, that meant church came first. He and his family attended services at Washington’s First Congregational Church, then spent the evening at home over a quiet dinner. The big Philadelphia commemoration would simply have to wait until Monday.

‘About the Declaration, there is a finality that is exceedingly restful.’

As if on cue, a rainstorm tore through Washington on the Fourth itself. Fireworks were rained out that Sunday, pushed to a next-day show on the July 5. The country’s actual birthday got rained out. Coolidge’s rebuttal happened the next day — and the rain followed him. Tens of thousands packed the Sesquicentennial Stadium in Philadelphia anyway to hear him speak.

The fight was over whether the Declaration of Independence still meant anything. A wave of progressive thinkers had taken to dismissing its core claims — that all men are created equal, that rights are inalienable, that government answers to the people — as relics from a less enlightened age, ideas modern minds had supposedly outgrown.

Coolidge stood up and told them they were wrong.

RELATED: After UFC patriotic smash, Trump announces ‘spectacular’ 250th anniversary celebration rally at the Lincoln Memorial

HUM Images/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

“About the Declaration,” he said, “there is a finality that is exceedingly restful.” If all men are created equal, “that is final.” If they are endowed with inalienable rights, “that is final.” If government draws its power from the consent of the governed, “that is final.”

Then he went farther. Those who wanted to reject those propositions weren’t moving forward — they were moving backward, toward a time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. “Those who wish to proceed in that direction cannot lay claim to progress. They are reactionary.”

He was telling the smartest people in the room that they had missed the point of their own country. A century later, the argument hasn’t aged a day.

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​Declaration of independence, Founding principles, Inalienable rights, Philadelphia, Politics 

President Trump won the 2024 election promising to gut Biden-era DEI across the federal government, calling it “illegal and immoral.” The CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence tried to do exactly that — moving to fire 19 career officers who had spent their time on diversity, equity, and inclusion assignments instead of actual intelligence work.

Two Democrat-appointed judges said not so fast.

‘As long as the employee subject to termination chooses to pursue reassignment, the agencies must attempt to reassign her.’

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 Thursday that the CIA and ODNI have to let the 19 DEI-linked officers appeal their firings and, in some cases, apply for reassignment before they can be shown the door, the Washington Times reported.

The panel found the agencies skipped procedural steps required for a reduction in force — a technicality that’s now kept the firings frozen for well over a year, according to Bloomberg Government.

Writing for the majority, Biden-appointee Judge Nicole Berner — joined by Obama-appointee Judge Stephanie Thacker — ruled the officers had enough of a claim to their jobs to sue in the first place.

Berner wrote: “As long as the employee subject to termination chooses to pursue reassignment, the agencies must attempt to reassign her.”

RELATED: ‘BIG WIN’: Trump calls SCOTUS ‘Slaughter’ ruling the greatest increase of presidential power in 100 years

Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg/Getty Images

In a blistering dissent, Judge Paul Niemeyer, a George H.W. Bush appointee, argued that Congress gave intelligence directors “unfettered discretion” to fire employees precisely so courts couldn’t micromanage personnel decisions at agencies handling national security.

He called the injunction unlawful and urged the Supreme Court to step in, calling it a serious separation-of-powers problem: judges telling the CIA how to run its own house.

The ruling lands days after the Supreme Court handed Trump a win affirming his broad authority to fire employees, with a separate case providing a narrow carve-out for officials like Federal Reserve board members.

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​Blaze news, Censors, Cia, Dei, Diversity, Election, Equity, Federal government, Federal reserve, Inclusion, President trump, Reduction in force, Supreme court, Politics 

BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey has long been vocal about her opposition to in vitro fertilization. Between embryos being routinely frozen, discarded, or destroyed; the high health risks posed to both women and babies; eugenics-like embryo selection; and technology that takes us from what’s natural to what’s possible in often unethical and immoral ways, IVF is a hard no for the Christian, she argues.

However, now there’s another issue to add to the list: IVF mix-ups.

On this episode of “Relatable,” Allie pulls the curtain back on a disturbing reality the IVF industry keeps hidden.

In December 2025, a white couple from Florida — Tiffany Score and Steven Mills — went through IVF at the Fertility Center of Orlando. Tiffany gave birth to a healthy baby girl whom they named Shea.

But there was one problem: The child was not theirs.

Shea’s skin color and features looked nothing like either parent. Genetic testing confirmed that she was in fact 100% South Asian and not biologically related to either parent.

After meetings with both sets of parents, they reached a custody agreement. Score and Mills would raise Shea as her permanent custodial parents, while her biological parents would have some involvement in her life but not primary custody. The biological parents reportedly wanted to keep Shea but accepted the custody agreement due to the legal challenges of claiming a child carried and born by another woman.

“Just think about this as a mom, how hard this would be,” Allie sighs, sympathizing deeply with both sets of parents.

Score and Mills sued the Fertility Center of Orlando and its lead reproductive endocrinologist for negligence in implanting the wrong embryo. Shea’s genetic parents are also suing the clinic, which permanently closed earlier this year.

“[Score and Mills are] also looking to track down their own embryos and find out if one of their embryos might have also been implanted in another woman … or if they still exist,” Allie says.

Tragically, this mix-up isn’t an anomaly. Robert Marcereau, the attorney representing Shea’s biological parents, has handled multiple high-profile IVF and embryo error cases across clinics.

But perhaps the most shocking part of IVF mix-ups is that clinics are not required to report them.

“America is a wild, wild west for the fertility industry. It is so unregulated, it’s insane,” Allie says.

To hear more, watch the episode above.

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Relatable with allie beth stuckey, Allie beth stuckey, Ivf, Relatable 

When WNBA coach Stephanie White of the Indiana Fever spoke to reporters on Wednesday, her comments seemingly began as a defense of her player Caitlin Clark.

However, standing up for her star guard seemed like a sidebar to a rant that ran through a near-exhaustive list of buzzwords about diversity.

‘Our league is about elevating — elevating women.’

There has been immense blowback from casual viewers about the on-court treatment of Clark, which culminated when she received a fist to the throat from Phoenix Mercury player Alyssa Thomas while on the ground.

While no foul was issued during the game, Thomas was eventually handed a flagrant foul 2 and a one-game suspension.

Thomas has since alleged she’s received threats online, which Coach White decided to address in Wednesday’s media scrum.

“I think as a league as a whole, there’s been so much more toxicity, racism, homophobia, straight-out, like, nonsense, hate nonsense. And it is absolutely unacceptable,” White began.

With her scope immediately broadening to all progressive politics, the head coach soon assured fans that the WNBA is about as liberal as a sports league could be.

“Our league is about inclusiveness. Our league is about competition. Our league is about elevating — elevating women, elevating marginalized communities,” White listed off.

The 49-year-old wasn’t finished there, saying the league’s views included “being inclusive of all different walks of life” while even claiming the WNBA has been and will continue to be “on the forefront of social norms.”

White added, “That is what our league has always been about from day one. That is what our league will continue to be about.”

RELATED: Caitlin Clark gets fist to the throat as WNBA primed to explode: ‘She’s a straight white basketball player’

The coach also claimed most of the alleged online abuse directed at Thomas was not from WNBA fans, but rather the “online community.”

White then said that it was an attempt by online actors to use the WNBA for their own politics.

“I believe that this is people who are using our league, using our players to further divisive agendas. It’s not acceptable,” she reaffirmed.

White did manage to get some time in for the actual subject at hand — her star player — by saying the league was not effective in communicating with Clark regarding the foul and her treatment.

“We have to continue to protect our players. We’ve got to continue to support our players in our league,” White said.

However, the coach made sure to sprinkle in comments like: “It’s not hard to not be a jerk. And if you are one of these people that are online doing this, do not call yourself a WNBA fan.”

RELATED: Comedian Druski and BET Awards LAMPOON the black church

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

According to the New York Times, Thomas said that she was not even aware of her foul against Clark until after the game.

“A lot of us, myself included, didn’t even know the play took place until after the game, and now we’re being painted as thugs and there’s death threats out on us, so it’s really unacceptable. It’s something that needs to change in this league, and I’m just really sick and tired of it,” Thomas reportedly said after her team’s practice on Tuesday.

Thomas also reportedly claimed that she had not heard from the WNBA commissioner’s office, but inside sources from the Times claimed that the commissioner “exchanged texts and offered to get on a call with Alyssa Thomas last week.”

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​Fearless, Caitlin clark, Wnba, Woke, Sports