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Authorities in Denmark have charged more than 1,000 people for sharing sexually explicit content on Facebook, the largest such bust in the country yet.




Mashable reports that the crackdown originated with two videos and a sexually explicit message involving two 15-year-olds, all of which was posted to Facebook Messenger. From there, the content was shared hundreds of times, resulting in charges filed against 1,004 people. Of those, around 800 are male.

“It’s a very big and complex matter that has taken a long time to investigate. Not least because of the large number of charged. We have taken the case very seriously as it has major implications for those involved when such material is spread. And it must be stopped,” police inspector Lau Thygesen from the Danish National Police said in a statement.


The bust comes less than a year after the country passed a new set of tightened restrictions on the nonconsensual sharing of explicit photos and images, including raising the penalty from six months in prison to two years. Though the age of consent in Denmark is 15, the act of sharing the media could potentially violate child pornography laws.

“We want to give out a warning to young people: think about what you’re doing,” Flemming Kjaerside, a police superintendent for Denmark’s National Crime Center, told Bloomberg. “Don’t ever share sex videos. It can have consequences for the victims and also for those distributing. We really hope that it is an eyeopener for young people, that they should be careful in the digital world about what you should do.”