In an odd case more than 1,000 youths in Denmark are to be charged with spreading sex videos of two 15-year-olds through Facebook, Danish police said on Monday.
The two videos along with explicit photos have been circulating since 2015. Facebook received numerous reports of the video of an underage boy and girl having consensual sex and alerted US authorities.
The material was spread on Facebook from 2015 until the autumn of 2017.
The case was carried across to Denmark via the European Union’s law enforcement agency Europol. 800 boys and 200 girls mostly between 15 and 20 years of age are being charged by police.
“This is a very large and complex case, which has taken a long time to investigate, especially because of the large number (of people) being charged,” police investigator Lau Thygesen from the northern Danish region of Nordsjaelland said in a statement.
The actual age of consent in Denmark is 15, however, Danish law stipulates that the distribution of sexual material involving people under the age of 18 constitutes distribution of child pornography, which has a maximum charge of a six-year prison sentence.
“If found guilty, the suspects will likely receive a fine or a 20-day suspended sentence, both of which would give them a criminal record lasting up to 10 years.” The police statement said.
The charges could affect the children from a future career within social work or from working with children.
“We take this case very seriously as it has serious consequences for those involved when this kind of material is spread,” Thygesen added.
In neighbouring Sweden, three men were accused of gang raping a woman and live streaming the attack on Facebook last year.