Sick abuse trend running rampant among Melbourne teens exposed

Underage students are being coerced into sending explicit private photos and videos of themselves that are then being published on social media by other teens, prompting warnings from authorities.

Explicit private videos and photos of underage school students are being published on a series of social media pages in an illegal online scourge that is running rampant among teens.

The Herald Sun can reveal more than 100 graphic videos and photos of students from state and private schools have been shared on several Instagram accounts without students’ permission.

Some of the victims, who had footage shared of them on the site, were believed to be as young as 14, with sources saying they were previously pressured to send explicit photos to their ex-partners.

A number of students targeted were seen wearing school uniforms – some belonging to Melbourne’s most elite colleges and well-known government schools.

More than 100 graphic videos and photos of students from across Victoria have been shared on social media.

In some shocking cases, accounts showed eight different students’ names on its page, with several instances of image-based abuse occurring, also widely known as revenge porn.

In another instance, a bullying account targeting a female student from a private school, showed private photos of her with captions calling her a “lonely crack whore”.

A mother from Melbourne’s inner east told the Herald Sun that she and other parents had reported the accounts to Instagram on multiple occasions for at least three months.

“We labelled the accounts as inappropriate content as they showed explicit nudity, but they did not get taken down,” the mother said.

“This must have been very traumatic for the students involved. There needs to be safeguards for Instagram to immediately remove this content when it is posted,” she added.

When the Herald Sun contacted Instagram about the accounts, the company immediately took action and disabled them.

But sources say new accounts showing similar content are quick to emerge when social media pages are taken down.

Chanel Contos, Founder of Teach Us Consent & Chair of The Global Institute for Women's Leadership's Youth Advisory Committee said image based abuse was “extremely common”. Picture: Martin Ollman

Leading sexual assault campaigner and Teach Us Consent founder Chanel Contos said the distribution of image-based abuse targeting young people was “extremely common”.

“It’s quite widely unspoken about because the narrative around it tends to be a lot of victim blaming,” Ms Contos said.

“Children don’t understand coercion, so often these images can be almost extorted from someone by saying ‘if you don’t send me this, I’ll send another photo to someone else’,” she said.

Ms Contos, who has written the book Consent Laid Bare, which features a chapter on image-based abuse, said young men were using these social media pages as “trophy walls”.

“We can have the reporting and deleting of these pages, but we need to have the prevention and when we teach consent and respectful relationships, it needs to be taught in the online world.”

A spokeswoman from Meta, the company which owns Instagram, said: “We have reviewed the accounts and acted against those that violate our policies.”

“It can feel even worse when someone threatens to share it (images) and that is why we have strict rules against sharing, or threatening to share, someone’s intimate imagery, and we take severe action on anyone breaking these rules,” she said.

A Meta spokesperson said the platform had “strict rules” against sharing intimate images.

A Department of Education spokesman said: “Where schools become aware of any such incidences involving students, they will be reported to the police,” he said.

“Full supports will be provided to those impacted, and appropriate disciplinary action taken.”

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said police took sexual offences very seriously and was dedicated to supporting victims.

“In Victoria, it is illegal to share an explicit image of someone without their consent,” she said.

“We encourage any person whose explicit image has been shared without their consent to report the matter to police.

“The matter will be investigated and if sufficient evidence is obtained, perpetrators will be charged and face penalties of up to three years imprisonment.”

An eSafety Commissioner spokesperson said it had a 90 per cent success rate in getting this types of distressing material taken down.

“You can also report it to eSafety.gov.au/report and we will help remove it,” the spokesperson said.

An Australian Federal Police spokesperson said minors could be charged with Commonwealth offences in certain situations.

“Minors can be charged with Commonwealth offences in certain situations. Before proceeding with a criminal prosecution however, a number of circumstances need to be considered, especially whether or not a prosecution is in the public interest,” the spokesperson said.