We’re at a bar, and Nick’s absentmindedly flipping through his Snapchat stories. I’m looking over his shoulder, because that’s just the kind of invasive asshole I am. He skips through your typical dog-nose selfies, pedicured toes in the sand, a super-chill broski exhaling a cloud of smoke, and then a beautiful young girl appears on his screen. She’s butt naked, moaning, and rubbing her clit. All hopes I had of discreetly snooping are dashed, because I can’t help but yell, “What the fuck?!?”

This was my very first exposure to Snapchat porn. The beautiful woman didn’t share her intimate video exclusively with Nick. She’d submitted it to an X-rated account’s Snapchat story. As Nick enlightened me, just as I can use Snapchat to share a nude with one partner, promiscuous ladies can use it to share nudes with millions of strangers. There are two ways they can do this: The girls can submit their smut to a nude compilation account, which amasses a collection of multiple women’s pictures and creates a slideshow of amateur porn; and, the girls can earn a profit by private messaging men who will pay them in Snapcash for sexy snaps.

Snapchat hasn’t always been a sanctuary for the sex-crazed. A number of new updates have facilitated these amateur porn organizations. First, in October 2013, the app made the addition of Snapchat stories, 24-hour compilations that can be watched repeatedly within that time-frame. With the stories update, the fleeting nature of the Snapchat began to erode. Sexy snaps could compile, be replayed, and last long enough to climax.

Then, in November 2014, the app announced the launch of Snapcash, which allows users to instantly transfer cash to another user’s bank account. In doing so, the company essentially put a price tag on sexting. With the addition of SnapCash, women could actually earn a profit posing nude, and exchanging money for naked selfies became a common practice.

But women aren’t the only ones undressing for strangers on Snapchat. The Daily Dot’s exposé on Snapchat’s porn rings revealed that many young men are also masturbating for the front-facing camera. These amateur porn stars are sharing their pics with Snapchat aggregators who specialize in erotic compilations of young men. The aggregator accounts have amassed a cult following of gay and bisexual men by publicly pimping the boys out.

While this ephemeral erotica may seem like a win-win for men in the mood, a huge problem has developed: many of the featured boys and girls appear to be underage. If they are, simple sexting can turn into kiddie porn and viewers can turn into sex offenders.

It’s more likely than you’d think. Underage kids frequently upload nudes because they naively believe that their photos will disappear. They’re unaware that nude photos can be shared and proliferate on the internet long past their Snapchat expiration date.

What's worse, underage users can slip into X-rated stories with relative ease because Snapchat is not legally responsible to ensure against it. The company has never interfered with users sending each other raunchy photos, regardless of user age.

They never have, and they probably never will. The entire appeal of Snapchat is privacy and anonymity. The company can’t take extra steps to verify age without sacrificing anonymity. And it can’t discourage users from spreading kiddie porn without violating their privacy by investigating what users are sending.

So the burden of avoiding child pornography falls on you. If you receive some suggestive Snaps from what looks like a child, fill out Snapchat’s inappropriate content report or contact safety@snapchat.com.

At its onset, Snapchat revolutionized sexting. Unlike Instagram, Facebook, or Vine, it placed no restrictions on nudity. It allowed our smut to self-destruct, and created a new avenue for the sharing of naked photos. And every update seems to further this purpose. When the app allowed for Stories, we used them for pornographic purposes. And when the app allowed for Snapcash, we used it as porn payment.

The privacy of Snapchat has its perks and its perils. The perks? Beautiful naked women at your fingertips. The perils? Pedophilia. But we can’t help but surround ourselves with sex. Because while a Snapchat may be fleeting, our sex drives certainly aren’t.