The Heat is On is an investigative series by Scrolling 2 Death, in partnership with Heat Initiative. Sarah Gardner, Founder and CEO of Heat Initiative, joins Nicki (S2D) to expose the truth Big Tech doesn’t want you to hear – and this episode is all about Snapchat.

From a disappearing-nude app in 2011 to a social media giant in 2025, Snapchat’s story is one of innovation, imitation, and controversy. When it comes to digital harms and kids, Snapchat ranks among the worst—which is why this story expands two parts. In Part 1, we’re exposing how Snapchat’s “innovations” have put profits ahead of our children’s safety. 

Snapchat’s culture was flawed from the start. The FTC sanctioned the company early on for misleading users about how ‘private’ disappearing snaps really were. Since then, features like Discover and AR filters have been designed to keep kids endlessly engaged, regardless of the consequences.

Today, nearly half of all U.S. teens use Snapchat. Yet the platform continues to enable drug poisonings, connect minors with predators, and drive addictive use. As psychologist Jonathan Haidt warns, Snapchat is harming children on an industrial scale - and insiders admit the company knows but fails to act.

Online drug dealing, especially fentanyl-laced pills, has fueled a 350% rise in teen deaths over the past three years. Snapchat’s Quick Add feature helps dealers find young users, exposing an estimated 700,000 people to drug content daily. Even when dealers are reported, only one in four accounts is removed.

Sextortion is another growing crisis. Snapchat receives about 10,000 reports each month— numbers employees say barely scratch the surface. Predators exploit the app’s disappearing messages, and with Snap Map, digital threats increasingly turn into real-world harm.

Rather than designing for safety, Snapchat keeps doubling down on engagement. Features like Snapstreaks drive compulsive use; 45% of teens now use the app “almost constantly.” Your child’s attention keeps them profitable.

In this episode, Sarah and Nicki hear from parents and experts who’ve seen the damage firsthand. Their message is clear: these aren’t accidents - they’re design choices. The question is...can Snapchat fix this? Or is Snap a lost cause?

Video Editing expertly provided by Jacob Meade.

Thank you to our featured guests:

• Laura Marquez-Garrett - Attorney, Social Media Victims Law Center
• Amy Neville - Parent survivor, founder of Alexander Neville Foundation
• ‍Jonathan Haidt - Author of The Anxious Generation
• Paul Raffile - Cyber-analyst and worldwide sextortion expert
• Aaron Ping - Survivor parent of Avery Ping and host of the Superhuman podcast
• Jim & Kate Sullivan - Survivor parent of Jack Sullivan
• Anna McAdams - Online safety advocate and mom of Elliston
• Paul Solotaroff - Senior Writer at Rolling Stone
• Mike Neff - Attorney, Neff Injury Law
• Sarah Gallagher Trombley - former Snapchat Exec and Founder of Digital Mom Media

This episode discusses youth suicide and social media harm; listener discretion is advised.

London was bright, goofy, empathetic, brilliant. She played soccer year-round, read nonstop, danced through the kitchen, and filled her Michigan home with laughter. But during the pandemic, when she was just eight, a smartphone and social media entered her life. What followed was a years-long battle with algorithmic addiction that Charay—like millions of parents—never saw coming.

In this raw and devastating interview, London’s mom Charay Gadd shares the truth no parent should ever have to live through: TikTok pushing self-harm and suicide content when London searched for harmless topics… Snapchat teaching her to hide messages… multiple secret accounts… emotional manipulation from streaks and scores… and a child who didn’t understand the permanence of death because of what she saw online.

Charay takes us through London’s hospitalizations, the cries for help, and the night everything changed. Her message is one every parent must hear: This wasn’t London. This was addiction. This was social media.

Today, Charay fights for justice—alongside more than 1,000 families in the national lawsuit against Big Tech—and honors London’s life through a scholarship that empowers teens to make a difference in the world.

This episode is not entertainment.
It’s a warning.
And it will save lives.

You can donate to a scholarship program in London's name, here.

Have AI companies lost control of their bots — or are the bots designed to harm?

In this episode, Sarah Gardner and Nicki Petrossi dive deep into the disturbing rise of AI chatbots gone rogue — and the tragic human cost. From teens who formed emotional bonds with bots that later encouraged suicide, to lawsuits against OpenAI, Character.AI, and others, we expose how Big Tech’s newest frontier of “AI companions” is already devastating families.

You’ll hear how chatbots like Character.AI, ChatGPT, Meta AI, and Snap’s MyAI blurred the lines between fiction and reality, leading kids to isolation, self-harm, and even death. Former tech insiders, grieving parents, and attorneys share evidence that these bots aren’t just broken — they’re built this way.

We ask the urgent questions:
🔥 Are AI companies creating the perfect predator?
🔥 Can this be fixed before more kids are harmed?
🔥 What can parents do right now to protect their children?

This is everything a parent needs to know about chatbots (and more). 

The Heat is On is more than a podcast; it's a movement of parents fighting for our children. Be sure to sign up here to join us.

Opportunity to Act: Sign this open letter to Congress asking for specific regulation of AI companions for kids

Resources mentioned in the episode: 

• Interview with Character.AI founder Noam Shazeer
• Nearly 1/3 of Americans have had a ‘romantic relationship’ with an AI bot
• NY Times: Inside 3 Long-Term Relationships with AI Chatbots
• 1 in 5 high schoolers say they or someone they know has had a romantic relationship with AI
• Report from Heat Initiative and Parents Together on harmful Character.AI interactions‍
• JAMA Study: Exploring the behaviors of chatbots in response to adolescent health emergencies‍
• "An AI chatbot killed my son." with Megan Garcia, mom of Sewell Setzer‍
• If you or a family member has been harmed, reach out to Social Media Victims Law Center‍
• Open letter to Congress asking for specific regulation of AI companions for kids

‍

Additional resources at: www.scrolling2death.com/post/the-heat-is-on-ai-chatbots

What happens when a tech-savvy parent — someone who’s been sounding the alarm about online dangers for years — realizes she could have made safer choices for her child?

In this powerful and deeply personal episode, Nicki Petrossi sits down with Titania Jordan, Chief Marketing Officer at Bark Technologies & author of the new book Parental Control— but more importantly, mom to a teenage son — for a raw conversation about regret, resilience, and redefining what it means to protect our kids in the digital age.

Titania opens up about the choices she’d make differently if she could go back: the early video games that seemed harmless, the slow creep of screens becoming the default, and the moment she realized tech had gained more influence in her home than she ever intended. Together, Nicki and Titania unpack the emotional burden parents carry — the shame, the confusion, and the fear that you’re “too late.”

But this isn’t just a cautionary tale. It’s a roadmap and a rallying cry.

You’ll learn:

• The hidden ways tech rewires childhood — and family dynamics
• The warning signs parents often miss when screens start taking over
• How AI and chatbots complicate modern parenting in ways we’re only beginning to understand
• Practical boundary-setting strategies for kids and teens
• Why tech companies must be held legally accountable — and why parents should not shoulder the blame alone

Through honest reflections and hard-earned wisdom, Titania reminds every parent: it's never too late to course-correct. And it's definitely not your fault that billion-dollar companies engineered these tools to be addictive — but it is our collective responsibility to fight back, reshape the narrative, and protect the next generation.

Whether your child is still preschool-age or already a teen with a phone, this episode will leave you more informed, more empowered, and ready to parent with conviction in a world designed to overwhelm you.

Press play to hear a mother’s wake-up call — and find hope, strategy, and solidarity in the struggle we’re all facing.

This episode is sponsored by Bark Technologies:

• ‍Learn about the Bark Phone.‍
• Learn about the Bark App for iPhones and Androids.  *Use code SCROLLING2DEATH FOR 10% OFF‍
• Learn about the Bark Watch.

This is not a hypothetical. This is not science fiction.
This is happening right now.

Today, multiple families across the U.S. and Canada filed lawsuits against OpenAI, alleging that ChatGPT triggered psychosis, isolated vulnerable users from loved ones, and—even worse—encouraged suicide.

Four families lost their sons.

A 17-year-old. A 23-year-old. A 26-year-old. A 48-year-old.
All believed they were talking to a supportive companion, a lifeline. Instead, they found themselves pulled deeper into darkness.

In this emergency episode, Nicki Petrossi speaks with attorney Laura Marquez-Garrett from the Social Media Victims Law Center about:

• Why these families are blaming ChatGPT
• How a tool used for schoolwork evolved into a psychological companion
• The chilling transcripts from the final hours of 23-year-old Zane Shamblin’s life
• What happens when AI stops saying “I can’t help with that” — and starts saying “I love you, see you on the other side”

This is the conversation tech hoped you wouldn’t hear.

Parents, lawmakers, and educators must listen.

Because if this is the future of AI — no one is safe.

Visit this link to access the legal complaints.

In Part 1 of The Heat is On Apple, we exposed how Apple’s ecosystem puts kids at risk — from iMessage to iCloud to the App Store.

In Part 2, we’re asking the only question that matters: What could Apple do to protect children — and how do we get them to do it?

We break down real solutions Apple could deploy tomorrow: device-based age verification, real App Store safeguards, proactive CSAM detection in iCloud, global reporting tools in iMessage, and parental controls that actually work. And we examine the growing pressure forcing Apple’s hand — lawsuits, new laws, global regulators, and parents demanding accountability.

Finally, we share what families can do right now: don’t rely on Apple defaults, consider kid-safe devices, talk to another parent, and get involved in the movement pushing Apple to protect children instead of profits.

Subscribe to The Heat is On movement to receive real action steps you can take to force companies like Apple to do better. Sign up here: https://www.scrolling2death.com/heat

Up next: we turn up the heat on Snapchat. 🔥

Email Apple Leadership: Support our demands of Apple by letting leadership know that you want their products to be safer for kids.

Thank you to our expert guests:

Jonathan Haidt - Author of The Anxious Generation

Paul Raffile - Cyber analyst and sextortion expert

Chris McKenna – Digital safety advocate and founder of Protect Young Eyes

‍

Video Editing by Jacob Meade

In Part 1 of The Heat is On Apple, we exposed how Apple’s ecosystem puts kids at risk — from iMessage to iCloud to the App Store.

In Part 2, we’re asking the only question that matters: What could Apple do to protect children — and how do we get them to do it?

We break down real solutions Apple could deploy tomorrow: device-based age verification, real App Store safeguards, proactive CSAM detection in iCloud, global reporting tools in iMessage, and parental controls that actually work. And we examine the growing pressure forcing Apple’s hand — lawsuits, new laws, global regulators, and parents demanding accountability.

Finally, we share what families can do right now: don’t rely on Apple defaults, consider kid-safe devices, talk to another parent, and get involved in the movement pushing Apple to protect children instead of profits.

Subscribe to The Heat is On movement to receive real action steps you can take to force companies like Apple to do better. Sign up here: https://www.scrolling2death.com/heat

Up next: we turn up the heat on Snapchat. 🔥

On October 1, 2023, one family woke up to every parent’s nightmare — their daughter’s phone was blowing up with messages from friends. Someone had taken innocent photos from her Instagram, run them through an AI app called DNGG, and created fake, nude images that quickly spread through her high school.

This chilling episode of Scrolling 2 Death exposes the disturbing rise of AI-powered nudify apps that can “digitally undress” anyone in seconds. Though DNGG has been taken down, countless others have replaced it.

You'll also learn of the surprising role that Snapchat plays in this story; how Snap completely ignored both the families affected and also police warrants from investigators.

We unpack how these apps work, the devastating emotional impact on victims, and what parents, platforms, and policymakers must do to protect teens from this new form of digital abuse.

Thank you to Anna McAdams for sharing this vulnerable yet empowering story.

Take it Down Service by NCMEC

Support for Child Sexual Abuse Survivors by RAINN

CertifyAI Service

The Heat is On is a new investigative series by Scrolling 2 Death, in partnership with Heat Initiative. Co-hosts Sarah Gardner, Founder and CEO of Heat Initiative, and Nicki Petrossi, Host of Scrolling 2 Death, are exposing the truth Big Tech doesn’t want you to hear – and this episode is all about Apple.‍

Apple revolutionized personal computing and their products didn’t just change technology — they changed childhood: putting powerful, addictive devices directly in kids’ hands. 88% of teens now own an iPhone. 

Apple has convinced us that parental controls keep iPhones and iPads “safe”, but that is an illusion. 

In this episode, Sarah and Nicki dig into the core apps and platforms available to children through Apple devices: iMessage, Screen Time, The App Store, and iCloud.

Disclaimer: This episode includes discussion of child sexual abuse and online child exploitation. If you or someone you know is a victim of exploitation, contact the CyberTipline at NCMEC: report.cybertip.org. Or text Hello to 741741 for immediate assistance.

Here's what you can do to put pressure on Apple:

1. Sign up for our campaign updates at scrolling2death.com/heat.
2. Share this episode with a friend and family member. 
3. Choose a child-safe device.

In Part 2, you will learn about changes that Apple can make to better protect kids, and how we pressure Apple to act.

‍

 Thank you to our expert guests:

Jonathan Haidt - Author of The Anxious Generation

Paul Raffile - Cyber analyst and sextortion expert

Chris McKenna – Digital safety advocate and founder of Protect Young Eyes

Video Editing by Jacob Meade

Today, Character.AI shocked the world by announcing a ban on users under 18 from using its chatbots. But when you read the fine print, the story gets murky. Is this real protection for kids — or another Big Tech PR spin? Nicki Petrossi breaks it down with Sarah Gardner of Heat Initiative and attorney Laura Marquez-Garrett from the Social Media Victims Law Center.

Parents can join us in putting pressure on Big Tech by signing up here: scrolling2death.com/heat