During Tuesday evening, the account and its contents came to the attention of the police. A child who saw it on Snapchat dared to tell his mother who immediately called the police.
– The child herself was very worried about the boy on the rocks but didn’t really know if she dared to take it further. Finally he talked to me and I am so proud of that, says the mother to SVT.
According to the mother, children from all over Malmö should be in the group.
Preliminary investigation initiated
The police have opened a preliminary investigation into the case, but have not progressed in the investigation.
– It sounds like a grotesque case and right now we are in the middle of the process for it to end up on the right preliminary investigation leader, says Nils Norling, the police’s press officer.
Common according to Ecpat
According to Ecpat, which recently published a report on so-called exposure accounts, the phenomenon is common. They call it a kind of crime that spreads between children. In their report, they focus especially on nude images and sexual content of children that are spread.
– Those who spread the material are children, as are those who visit the accounts. Many of those hanged who have been forced to send pictures and videos to older children are very young, often in middle school age. The fear that adults will get angry and blame the child also means that the vulnerable do not dare to tell, says Anna Karin Hildingson Boqvist, secretary general at Ecpat.
Ecpat’s survey shows that 89 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 17 know what an expose account is. A majority of them – around 60 percent – have visited at least one.