OfficerBlueHuntsville, AL – Law enforcement agencies are asking people to stop sharing child porn on Facebook after a video went viral showing a child performing a sex act on an adult.
People are unwittingly hitting the share button to “help” identify people in the video, and are committing a crime by distributing child pornography.
The video in question shows a black male having a sex act performed on him by a black female child, according to WHNT.
Despite people’s good intentions, they are re-victimizing the child by sharing the video of her being sexually assaulted.
Colorado Springs PD reports that law enforcement in Alabama have already located the people involved. They posted to Facebook saying:
CSPD is aware of a pornographic video involving a black male and a black female minor that was posted on Facebook on January 31, 2018. Shortly after the video was reported to law enforcement officials, the minor was located and is safe. Due to the explicit nature and content of the video, it quickly became viral which resulted in the video and original post being shared through a multitude of social media platforms. Law enforcement in Alabama is investigating this case.
Madison County Chief Trial Attorney Time Gann told WHNT, “If you saved it, if you posted it to your page, if you sent it to someone else, you’re disseminating child porn and that’s a felony. If you are in possession of it, no matter your good intentions, that is also a felony. So, in this case, it’s very disturbing that people feel like it’s OK to post something awful happening to a child on social media.”
He continued, “Every time it gets posted, the victim in this case gets re-victimized for more people to see what they have been subjected to. It’s an awful thought that people can’t understand that that’s wrong. To have it blasted over social media, it shocks the conscience, for me. It really does.”
If you see the video on Facebook, report the post to the social media company and don’t otherwise interact with it.
And please let other people know – don’t share child porn on social media.