New York, Feb 12, 2026, 07:01 EST — Premarket
- Snap shares ticked up roughly 0.3% ahead of the bell, recovering slightly after falling 4.6% the previous session.
- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against Snap, accusing Snapchat of deceiving parents and putting minors in contact with mature material and “addictive” elements.
- Co-founder and CTO Robert Murphy lined up to unload 1 million shares through Rule 144, according to a filing. Meanwhile, Arete bumped the stock up to Buy.
Snap Inc ticked up roughly 0.3% ahead of Thursday’s open, clawing back a bit after closing at $4.99, down 4.6% in the previous session. 1
Texas is jumping into the growing effort from U.S. state officials who are cracking down on social media companies about child safety and how apps are built. For investors, these lawsuits may drag out for years, bringing legal bills, potential product overhauls, or stricter rules on marketing.
Snap finds itself right in the crosshairs here—Snapchat’s core audience skews young, and ad dollars remain its main source of revenue. The stock, already hovering close to the bottom of its recent range, tends to react fast when fresh legal risks pop up.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday announced his office is suing Snap, alleging the company misled parents about Snapchat’s safety and allowed young users to see material with profanity, drugs, nudity, and sexual themes. The complaint takes aim at features like “Snapstreaks,” which push for daily engagement. Paxton says the state plans to “hold Snapchat accountable” for what he calls deceptive practices that put kids at risk. 2
A Snap spokesperson pushed back on Paxton’s lawsuit in comments to The Texas Newsroom, saying it “fundamentally distorts” how Snapchat operates. The spokesperson also pointed out that there’s no single safety measure capable of wiping out every online risk. 3
Paxton wants civil penalties reaching $10,000 for each alleged violation so far, along with a court order that would stop Snapchat from pitching its app to kids, the Texas Tribune reported via local outlets. 4
In a separate disclosure, Snap co-founder and CTO Robert C. Murphy filed an SEC Form 144, indicating plans to unload 1 million shares, with the proposed sale date pegged for Feb. 10. The notice also mentioned a February transaction involving a trust, which offloaded another 1 million shares. Both moves were outlined as part of a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, the pre-set mechanism used by insiders to arrange stock sales. 5
Arete bumped Snap up to “Buy” from “Neutral” earlier this week, but clipped its price target down to $7.30 from $8.60, a note via MT Newswires showed. 6
Snap has been on the defensive with investors since its previous quarterly report. The company beat revenue expectations but warned that first-quarter revenue would likely fall short of Wall Street’s targets—pointing to a difficult advertising climate and strong competition from larger rivals. “The ads platform still has a long way to go in attracting big budgets from enterprise advertisers,” Emarketer analyst Max Willens said at the time. 7
Still, there’s no telling how fast the Texas case might progress. Legal battles like this often get bogged down in procedural wrangling—motions, appeals, maybe a judge trimming or dismissing claims. All the while, Snap’s fortunes remain tied to a rebound in ad demand over the next several months.
Eyes are on Snap as traders await its upcoming Texas court filings and updates on both safety tools and marketing tactics. Wall Street Horizon has the next earnings date—still unconfirmed—down as April 28. 8
