– Children aged 8-10 take pictures of their bums or dance naked and sell to strangers. They get paid in game money, says Mia Landsem. She works to expose the illegal sharing of nude photos. Landsem explains that many people have written price lists on their secret snapchat account with what different types of photos and videos cost. – They get paid anywhere from a hundred to a thousand kroner for material in underwear or of naked bodies. Kripos reports an increase in the number of children and young people who sell sexualized images of themselves. Further down in the article, you will get tips on how to talk to children about nude photos. Don’t see themselves as victims The children tell the police that they don’t see themselves as victims, but as someone who has tricked an adult and made money. – Unfortunately, I think many parents will be surprised because you think it’s happening somewhere else. But it might happen in the bedroom of your 12-year-old son or daughter, says head of the section for serious violence and sexual assault at Agder police district, Kenneth Rafaelsen. They work to monitor people who download abusive material. Every month they arrest an average of two people. Here, two of the Agder police’s investigators are working to expose abusers who have downloaded abuse material. Photo: Elisabeth Sandve / news The police in Agder seize photos and videos every single week. The police say that the demand for images of abuse of children and young people is significant. The fact that children and young people have access to smartphones earlier makes it easier to take pictures and videos of themselves. The police believe that this causes the scope to increase. – They have access to apps and chat rooms that parents have barely heard of. They are used to taking selfies and if they take a nude selfie then it is easy to share it, he says. In 2020, Kripos launched the report Children who sell self-produced abuse material, which reveals the increase of images on digital platforms. The survey showed that 46 per cent of children aged 13-18 have been asked to send nude pictures. – Kripos does not have figures on exactly how many cases of shared images have been uncovered, says Helge Haugland in Kripos. He has worked in the fight against online abuse for many years. Making minors perform sexual acts on themselves, and sending pictures and videos of it, is equated with rape. Kripos learns that adults pretend to be children or young people in order to make contact. But it also happens that children send pictures to each other. – Girls aged 13-16 can also be a promoter and have a desire to sell self-produced material and are looking for “sugar daddies” online, who can pay. That’s what Pernille Lavoll Baade says in the regional resource center on violence, traumatic stress and suicide prevention (RVTS Sør). The Kripos report states that many who pay for photos are already known to the police, several of them for sexual offences. Three different platforms Photos and videos are shared on different platforms. Social media such as Snapchat, Yubo and the chat service such as Omegle. news tested the chat service Omegle. A place where you can be anonymous and chat with people from all over the world. We pretended to be young girls aged 13-17. In several chats, it only took seconds before questions about sex and nude photos became the topic. Several people requested our Snapchat user despite pretending to be as young as 13 years old. It took news a short time before questions about sex and the sharing of images became a topic on Omegle. Alternative payment hidden from parents Lavoll Baade in RVTS Sør explains that many young people fear that the images will spread, or that their parents will find out about what they have done. – Who are these young people? – Those who do this are very active on social platforms and appear uncritical when meeting strangers, says Lavoll Baade. They usually have open profiles. She explains that the young people come up with new ways to hide the activity. They have a Snapchat for friends and an account for strangers. They get the money sent to a digital wallet, instead of to the account to which the parents like to have access. The youngest children who do not have Vipps can be paid in game money or digital gift cards, completely hidden from their parents. She is concerned about the long-term consequences for these young people. – Several studies show that young people who have sold nude photos and films online are constantly worried about where this material has gone, says Lavoll Baade. Pernille Lavoll Baade in RVTS Agder says that children share pictures of themselves in sexualized positions. Photo: Elisabeth Sandve / news When the abuser wakes up Children and young people are also deceived by their abusers. Then many people contact Mia Landsem. – I am often contacted because the child is being pressured to send more material on their own. It can also end with threats of physical intercourse, she says. She is contacted approximately three times a month by children, young people and parents who need help. – Many people do not know that the recipient can take pictures of the mobile or computer screen and record videos from Snapchat or chat rooms without being notified, she says. Speaker Maria Krohn Engvik, or “health sista”, asks parents to talk to their children, and not condemn them so that the children dare to talk about life on social media. Photo: Private The “Health Sister”, Tale Maria Krohn Engvik, is also strongly involved in this. She finds the development frightening. – I have had conversations with 13-year-olds who would rather take their own lives than tell their parents about the pictures, says Krohn Engvik. Sometimes the recipients threaten to share the material with the victim’s friends, parents or sports team if the pictures don’t keep coming. – For many people, getting money for selling scantily clad photos has become common and many girls do it because they are vulnerable, want to be liked and get confirmation, she says. The Norwegian Directorate of Health has started the help service “There is help” for adults with a sexual interest in children. The parents need training Mia Landsem calls for online abuse to be taken seriously. Recently, nettvett.no and slettmeg.no were closed or shut down due to the economy. They were closed for two weeks but are back in business now. They receive several thousand inquiries each year about digital security issues. – We need to have learning in place and professionals who can talk about the dangers and ensure that there is a place to turn if they should be exposed to something terrible, she says. There are parental controls on all smartphones. But many people don’t know about that feature. – The parents receive no training in how to use parental controls, says Landsem. Kripos warns and emphasizes that shared images live a long time online. – If there is interest in the picture, it will probably be shared on many platforms and live online forever.
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8-10-year-olds take nude photos of themselves and earn money – news Sørlandet – Local news, TV and radio
