Child Pornography: Danish Police Charged Over 1000 Youngsters for Sharing Explicit Videos and Photos of Kids
The youngsters knew what they were doing but were blissfully unaware of it being against the law.
One should be careful about what they are sharing on social media. Danish police recently arrested 1004 young people who were sharing a video on Messenger of two teens under the age of 15, having sex. The social media giant site Facebook always keeps a tab if there is any criminal activity happening. The authorities informed the police when they found out two videos and a "sexually explicit" image that was being circulated by mostly teenage social media users across Denmark.
Among those charged, some shared it twice but a lot of users shared it about hundred times! The youngsters knew what they were doing but were blissfully unaware of it being against the child pornography law. "It's a very big and complex matter that has taken a long time to investigate. Not least because of the large number of those charged. We have taken the case very seriously as it has major implications for those involved when such material is spread," North Sealand police inspector Lau Thygesen said in a statement. The Danish police also informed that sharing such videos amounts to the distribution of child pornography and one can face a six-year prison term.
The age of consent in Demark is 15 years but the law against child pornography is applicable to the sharing videos/ photos of the people under 18 years of age. It is actually a strenuous search because of the privacy and encryption settings. But Facebook has a background system running that automatically removes and reports intimate content involving children. The information gets reviewed in the US and is relayed to the law enforcement agencies across the world. With just a single click it is possible today to share content across a wide audience. A similar thing happened with this particular video. It is essential to know what you are sharing before you actually hit the share or forward button.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 16, 2018 01:31 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).