Sexting out of control
Kids as young as 11 are being caught up in the revenge porn and sextortion epidemic, with investigators receiving complaints relating to pre-teens. One in four teens aged 14-17 have experienced at least one revenge porn behaviour in the last 12 months.
KIDS as young as 11 are being caught up in the revenge porn and sextortion epidemic, with investigators receiving complaints relating to pre-teens.
News Corp can for the first time reveal the full extent of the issue, with one in four teens aged 14 to 17 experiencing at least one sexting/sextortion/revenge porn behaviour in the past 12 months.
The first national research, commissioned by Office of the eSafety Commissioner, into the danger our kids are putting themselves in online has shown teenage girls are three times more likely than boys to be asked for a nude image and Snapchat is the platform of choice for the abuse with 62 per cent of cases.
This was followed by Facebook/Messenger at 39 per cent and SMS/MMS at 16 per cent.
Alarmingly, half of all teens who were asked for a nude picture said the request came from a stranger.
The research, which involved 1424 teens aged 14-17, was done in conjunction with New Zealand and the UK, who are also finding similar levels of sexting among their teenagers.
Across all countries, about 90 per cent of young people perceived that others their age were engaging in sexting.
The age of kids engaging in sexting/revenge porn behaviour on their devices is also lowering in Australia.
In one case an 11-year-old girl sent a naked image via Snapchat to a 13-year-old boy at her school. The image was saved and then shared around the school, and a fake Instagram account was set up to shame the girl.
A 14-year-old reached out for help after she sent naked pictures to a stranger in India.
She stopped sending images when her parents found out. But the stranger – an alleged 15-year-old male – said if she did not send more photos he would send it to all her friends.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said young people often did not fully understand the repercussions of what they were posting online.