WASHINGTON, July 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court

declined on Tuesday to hear a Texas teen's bid to revive his

lawsuit accusing Snapchat owner Snap of failing to

protect underage users of its social media platform from sexual

predators - in this case a female high school teacher who

pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting him.

The justices turned away up an appeal brought by the

plaintiff, who was not identified by name in the case because he

was a minor when it was filed, after lower courts dismissed his

lawsuit. Lower courts found that Snapchat was shielded by

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which safeguards

internet companies from liability for content posted by users.

The case involves a relationship between Bonnie

Guess-Mazock, a science teacher who was 36 at the time it

started in 2021, and the plaintiff, who was 15, in the Texas

city of Conroe, about 40 miles (65 km) north of Houston.

Criminal charges were brought against Guess-Mazock, who was

sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexual

assault of a child, according to court filings.

The plaintiff in the lawsuit accused Guess-Mazock of using

Snapchat - known for its disappearing photos and videos - to

groom him by sending him sexually explicit content. Over nearly

a year and a half starting in 2021, Guess-Mazock sexually

assaulted him until the abuse was discovered when he overdosed

on drugs she either provided or paid for, the lawsuit alleged.

In 2022, Doe sued Guess-Mazock, the local public school

district and Snap. Only his claims against the Santa Monica,

California-based company, seeking unspecified monetary damages,

were at issue in his appeal to the Supreme Court.

The plaintiff's civil lawsuit alleged three counts of

negligence against Snapchat under Texas law. He accused the

company of breaching its legal duty to protect its minor users

"from sexual predators who are drawn to the Snapchat application

by the privacy assurances granted by the disappearing messages

feature of the application."

Houston-based U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal in 2022

dismissed the suit against Snapchat, finding the company was

shielded by Section 230. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit

Court of Appeals in 2023 affirmed Rosenthal's ruling, prompting

the plaintiff's appeal to the Supreme Court.

The justices in 2023 declined to address the scope of

Section 230 in cases involving Google's video-sharing platform

YouTube and the social media platform Twitter, now called X.

Section 230 provides safeguards for "interactive computer

services" by ensuring they cannot be treated for legal purposes

as the "publisher or speaker" of information provided by users.

Calls have come from across the ideological and political

spectrum - including Democratic President Joe Biden and his

Republican predecessor Donald Trump - for a rethink of Section

230 to ensure that companies can be held accountable for content

on their platforms.