Child pornography videos on the schoolyard – BKA warns against sharing

The Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA) vigorously warns against the easy dissemination of child pornography files among children and adolescents. "We must massively counteract a de minimis of these crimes," said the head of the BKA department for serious and organized crime, Sabine Vogt, on Monday in Wiesbaden.

Social networks as an accelerator

For about two years, the Attorney General Frankfurt and the BKA have been registering that children and young adults share child pornography videos and images on social networks – for example, in class chats. Often associated with funny lyrics and emojis, which suggests that the investigators on a trivialization. "This is a phenomenon of mass distribution of such videos," said Vogt. The social networks acted as an accelerator.

According to the BKA, there are always proceedings against adolescents nationwide – but often outside public perception. A bigger case The authorities announced last Friday: On suspicion of forwarding images and videos that show sometimes serious sexual violence against children, the investigators in eleven states had searched apartments. Twenty-one suspects between the ages of 14 and 26 are said to have distributed such videos through social networks.

"It is not clear to the young people what they are doing with it," said Heidemarie Jung of the association "Dunkelziffer", which advocates sexually abused youth. Those who spread such videos and images would often be considered particularly brave in the playground. "It's a tribute to adulthood that they know about sexuality," said the child psychologist. The retransmission is not seen as something criminal.

Screen creates distance

The fact that sexualised contents are spread among young people is confirmed by earlier studies. According to this, 12 percent of adolescents have ever sent sexualized pictures and up to 38 percent have also received corresponding pictures.

"The screen creates such a distance to the things that happen behind the screen that it is not emotionally understood," said Jung. It must go now to create an awareness that they are criminal offenses. In addition to parents, class and counseling teachers are the first contacts to whom young people can entrust themselves.

Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig, the abuse representative of the Federal Government, argued in view of the current cases for the introduction of a compulsory subject "media literacy" in schools. Nationwide, either such a subject from the first to the tenth grade should be introduced, "or cross-section in all relevant subjects are taught that basic values ​​such as humanity and respect in the digital world," Rörig demanded on Monday.

"No trivial offense"

In the case of the 21 suspects, the investigators now evaluate smartphones, tablets and computers. The authorities now follow up on any new evidence of further suspects, said Christian Hartwig of the Attorney General's Office in Frankfurt, where the Central Office for Combating Cybercrime (ZIT) is based.

"We have no trivial offense here," confirmed senior prosecutor Andrea Güde. For some of the accused, juvenile justice applies. Their procedures could be suspended subject to conditions. A conviction under adult criminal law threatens between three months and up to five years imprisonment.

(Mho)