For the first time in history pedophiles across the world have the ability to gather in the shadows of social networking only to trade abusive images and videos of children.
“This is on Facebook?”
Yes, and it began with the discovery of a
photograph on an open Facebook “gallery.” In it, a young girl, perhaps six or
seven years old, is not smiling. With her head turned slightly to the right,
she looks coyly at the camera. Her hair is done in a highly stylized
arrangement with green and yellow ribbons. Along with other makeup, she is
wearing lipstick, eyeliner and shadow. She is standing outside, a blue sky and
unidentified foothills behind her.She is holding an inflatable Daffy Duck.
And she is completely naked.
The two researchers who discovered the photograph quickly realized it was not the only one of its kind. As they reported to the FBI, “this is part of a growing online collection, their numbers increasing by the hour. And each one is a ‘trophy’ for the child predator who shares the images via Facebook with thousands of others.”
The truth is that most of Facebook’s 600 million
users probably consider it to be well-patrolled and safe from such content. The
vast majority of us, from parents to major corporations, NGO’s, politicians and
even the President of the United States, have no idea that Facebook is home to
a massive collection of unreported child pornography and sexual violence.
