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February 12, 2026 / 12:51 PM PST / CBS LA
Families and advocates from across the nation took to the street in Santa Monica on Thursday with buckets of white paint and paint rollers to boldly spell out the names of children who have died from social media harms, they say.
The temporary memorial strategically went up outside the Snap offices near the Santa Monica Airport, as one father said, "to raise awareness … our voices matter, our children matter."
Organizers of Thursday's event said more than 40 families participated and nearly all lost their kids to fentanyl poisoning allegedly facilitated by Snapchat.
Parents and advocates paint the names of children who lost their lives to social media harms outside the Snap offices in Santa Monica. CBS LA
Sarah Gardner with the Heat Initiative organization said drug dealers find kids through the Snap Map feature on the platform. "Here's the deal. Snapchat has known for a long time that their product is killing kids," Gardner said.
Todd Minor traveled from Maryland in memory of his 12-year-old son Matthew. "Children are dying, a lot of us, most of us, know what that means… They just aren't being truthful," Minor said.
"They've designed it to continually have our young people interact with their social media applications."
The timing of Thursday's event comes as a landmark [social media trial is underway in Los Angeles](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/meta-google-youtube-social-media-addiction-trial-los-angeles/).
Social media giants Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat are accused of intentionally designing addictive features at the expense of the mental health of youth. TikTok and Snap recently settled, but the trial against Meta and YouTube continues.
Legal experts have stated that the outcome of this case, involving a now-20-year-old unnamed woman, could impact more than a thousand other similar cases dating back to 2021, serving as a test case to determine what damages, if any, may be awarded to plaintiffs.
"Those algorithms are just targeting our children. That's what we are here for, because they can easily design that where it's not affecting our children," Minor said.
Later Thursday morning, cleaning crews could be seen through aerial footage power-washing the painted names off the street.
CBS LA has reached out to Snap for comment.