Danish police charge young people for sharing video of teens having sex following Facebook tip-off
Updated
More than 1,000 young people have been charged by police in Denmark after Facebook tipped off authorities about videos being shared of two teenagers having sex.
Key points:
- Video featured two 15-year-olds having sex
- Age of consent in Denmark is 15
- Police say sharing videos could amount to distributing child pornography
The video clips on the messenger service showed two young people who were 15 years old, the age of consent in Denmark.
But Danish police said sharing the videos could amount to distributing child pornography, which has a maximum six-year prison sentence.
The arrests caused a stir in Denmark, as one Danish high school student told the BBC.
"I think it's horrible that so many people don't know what they might share," the student said.
"Or that just in general what they have on their computer can have this type of consequence."
Another Danish teenager said the case showed how quickly material could be spread online.
"What surprised me most was the extent of the case, the fact that 1,000 people can be included in this case shows how easily videos like this can be spread," the teenager said.
"It's surprising how fast the case can grow, as it has in this case."
If found guilty the suspects could receive a fine or a 20-day suspended sentence β giving them a criminal record lasting up to 10 years.
Could this happen in Australia?
Australia's e-safety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said revenge porn was illegal in Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales.
But she said an incident as big as the Danish case was quite rare.
"[Only] in the most extreme circumstances would law enforcement do that kind of mass arrest, we'd probably look at prevention and early intervention in the first instance," she said.
Ms Grant said sharing intimate images of anyone under 18 was a form of abuse.
"Obviously we want young people to know if they come across image-based abuse they should not on-share it," she said.
"They should either report it to the site on which they see it or they can come to the e-safety office at esafety.gov.au.
"We've got an image-based abuse reporting tool, we can help to get the content taken down and we can help the victims recover."
Ms Grant said such material could be devastating for victims.
"The problem is once an image is out of your control βor a video β it's out of your control forever," she said.
"So you don't know who has seen your image, your compromising image, whether your friends, your work colleagues, fellow students or family members, and you don't know where it might pop up again and when."
Topics: social-media, law-crime-and-justice, pornography, denmark
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