A group on Facebook that posted photographs of young girls in their school uniforms was recently discovered, according to reports in the local news. This group sourced the photographs from the private social media pages of girls and women, some of whom are reportedly from County Down.
According to the BBC the page, named “The Best School Girls,” has since been taken down by Facebook for violating their policies. The photographs posted are said to have been sourced from the individuals own social media profiles, with some of the featured photos being taken up to fifteen years ago, meaning the present ages of the ‘schoolgirls’ vary considerably.
The page described itself as a page for “sharing photos of pretty girls.” Although the content posted on the page was not explicit nor reported to have contained nudity, the context of the page may well be interpreted to have sexualised connotations.
The PSNI have said they received three reports about the Facebook group but as the photos were already open to the public [via the poster’s social media pages] and contained no nudity, no criminal offence had taken place.
Responding and Reacting: Steps to Take Today
For those who have had their photographs posted on the page – whatever their current age – the lack of criminality involved is likely to be of little comfort. In fact, it may even add to the frustration. Law is most often black and white, as in this case, and leaves little room for nuances.
As for parents and carers, many of you will be left extremely worried by this incident and wondering what to do next and how to protect the children and young people in your care from being targeted.
It’s not always easy to know where to turn to and what to do when something like this happens, especially given the lack of legal resources available. That is why we’ve created this guide to give you practical steps you can take today.
Privacy Settings and Controls
One of the most practical steps we can all take is utilising the settings available on social media. Often under-looked or misused, social media privacy settings can be key for keeping control of who can access personal content and information.
In this case, the photographs were taken directly from public social media pages. They have not technically ‘stolen’ these photos. It is also worth remembering that people can create fake profiles with the intention of adding children and young people as a ‘friend’ to access their photographs.
Copyrighting Content
In the UK, photographs, illustrations, and other images are generally protected by copyright – meaning that users will usually need the permission of the owner to copy the image or share it on the internet. This includes images taken on mobile phones or cameras.
You own your image, in order to protect yourself, copyright it. If you want social media sites to take an image down, the quickest way to do it is to point out the fact you have copyrighted it. – Jim Gamble QPM Chief Executive Officer Ineqe Safeguarding Group
Top Tips and Talking Points
Talk to the young person in your care about what they’re posting online. Content that may seem innocent to them could contain information and images that are potentially harmful or could be misused.
Encourage them to ‘pause before posting’ – have they reflected on who they want to view the content? Posting something publicly means anyone can see it. Are they giving away information without realising (such as anything visible in the background)?
This also applies to parents and carers too. ‘Sharenting’ is the act of sharing information online about your children, creating a digital imprint. Find out more about the risks of sharenting and why we all need to be careful what and where we’re posting.
Reporting Child Sexual Abuse Imagery
- Childline and the IWF have an online tool to help children and young people regain control of any nude image of themselves online. You can access this here.
- Adults can also report the URL of images for removal directly to the Internet Watch Foundation.
- Adults can make an online report to CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command) or contact the local police force for support if they have concerns a child is being groomed or sexually abused online.
