Police in Denmark has charged 1,004 young people with distributing sexually explicit material of two 15-year-olds following a tip-off from Facebook.
The activity may constitute distribution of child pornography, the Danish National Police said. The case is “very large and complex,” Police Inspector Lau Thygesen said. “We’ve taken the matter very seriously as it has big consequences for those involved.”
The charges follow calls in Denmark for greater efforts to clamp down on revenge porn and distribution of private material. This is after young women detailed in local newspapers last year, how their lives had been destroyed by the publication of photos and video intended only for their partners.
The crackdown also comes following a shift in tolerance toward such acts as the #MeToo movement gains traction.
“It’s our impression that young people know very well that the consequences are substantial for the victims when this type of material is distributed,” Flemming Kjaerside, a police superintendent for Denmark’s National Crime Center, said in the statement. “But they perhaps don’t know that it is also punishable, and they can be convicted of distributing child porn.”
Danish police said that they began their investigation after Facebook notified U.S. authorities of two explicit video clips and a photograph of the couple on its chat platform Messenger last year. U.S. authorities in turn then notified European police.
While most of those charged distributed the material a couple of times, others distributed it several hundred times, Danish noted.
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Breaking News: FBI Arrests 120 Human Traffickers
The youngest sex trafficking victim a 3-month-old girl
The FBI announced on Wednesday that authorities have rescued 84 children and arrested 120 alleged traffickers as part of a national anti-human trafficking initiative.
As a part of Operation Cross Country XI, the FBI and 78 state and local task forces conducted undercover stings. This occurred from October 12 to 15.
The agency mentioned that organizations in multiple countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom, Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines have also assisted in the initiative.
FBI agents reportedly staged operations where they were staking out hotels, casinos, truck stops, street corners, and Internet websites.
Shocking Discovery:
The average age of victims was 15. The youngest rescued child was 3-months-old, according to the FBI.
KMGH reported that Denver police had rescued the baby girl and her 5-year-old sister after a family friend tried to sell them for sex to an undercover officer for an amount of $600.
“We at the FBI have no greater mission than to protect our nation’s children from harm,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the number of traffickers arrested—and the number of children recovered—reinforces why we need to continue to do this important work.”
The statement explained that state protective services and the FBI’s Victim Services Division offer assistance to the rescued victims. Depending on their condition, they are offered a wide range of services, which includes mental health counseling.
The announcement comes just a day after police in Polk County, Florida, said they arrested 277 human trafficking and online prostitution suspects.
As a part of the Operation No Tricks, No Treats, Police officers posted fake online ads where they posed as prostitutes. Deputies said they arrested 51 people who had advertised themselves online as prostitutes – 209 of who solicited undercover detectives, according to WPEC.
Investigators also noted that they located and saved 5 possible human trafficking victims during the operation, which took place on October 10-16.We are committed to fighting human trafficking, by arresting those who engage in prostitution and trying to identify human trafficking victims,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.