The mobile is with them wherever they go. Children and young people have the whole world in their pocket, and are only a touch of a button away from horrific visions. The police in the South-East are now seeing an increase in the sharing of viral abuse videos among young people between the ages of 12 and 18, and are concerned. – These are videos with extreme content. That’s what Borghild Bjerketvedt, who is preventive coordinator for family violence and sexual offenses in the South-East police district, says. The videos are mostly shared via Snapchat, says Bjerketvedt. Getting a letter in the letterbox The police know that they cannot stop the distribution. Nevertheless, they are now going to another step to try to limit something. They are already sending out letters to the parents of the children who have shared these videos for the first time. See examples of the letters below. Borghild Bjerketvedt in the police says that the main message in the letter is to inform parents what has happened, and that it is basically a criminal offence. They have a desire and an expectation that the parents have a chat with their children, and inform them that this is illegal. – Won’t it scare parents very much to receive such a letter? – I think it can be frightening, but we live in a time where children are online a lot. We adults have to take that in. It must not be dangerous to have this conversation with your children. If the same name is registered again and has shared illegal material again, the police will react differently. It could be a call of concern, a criminal case or confiscation of the phone, says Bjerketvedt. Fear of normalization The police are afraid that sharing the crude videos will normalize the content and increase acceptance. Siv Elise Kvamsdal is a police lawyer and strategic prevention lawyer. Photo: Bettina Olie Bjerkholdt / news – The more you see of something, the less upset you are by it. The reaction is numbed. That’s what police lawyer and strategic prevention lawyer Siv Elise Kvamsdal says. – The borders are being moved, and we are very wary of that. Especially when it comes to the sexualization of children. It is a social responsibility to look after that border. Getting discovered Mari Juli Wille is head of investigations for the Darkweb group in the Southeast. She thinks many people don’t know that Snapchat follows. – If someone sends illegal material, it will be detected. In all police districts in Norway, groups have been set up that work with internet-related abuse. They collaborate with Kripos and NCMEC. The latter is a hub to which all social media come with tips, and they distribute these tips to the countries from which they originate. It is again distributed to the police districts. In 2021, Sør-Öst police district received the second most NCMEC reports of all police districts in Norway. – We then received 322 such reports. Not all of these were viral videos, but the vast majority. Altogether there were 75 people who had shared such material, says Wille. In September this year, there were 72 people, i.e. almost the same number as the whole of last year. ABUSE MATERIAL: Mari Juli Wille is head of investigations for the Darkweb group. They hunt abusers on the dark web. Photo: Bettina Olie Bjerkholdt / news Norwegian children see the most harmful content The last two times the survey EU Kids Online has come up with figures, Norway has scored highly. Norwegian children are at the top of Europe when it comes to viewing harmful content on screen. In the survey from 2018, it emerged that 38 percent of young people in Norway, between the ages of 11 and 17, had seen frightening or violent content. In the Norwegian Media Authority’s survey in 2020, 43 per cent, aged 13 to 18, said they had seen such content. This is a topic that has been under-communicated, believes Kjellhaug Tonheim Tønnesen, professional manager at Barnevakten. Kjellhaug Tonheim Tønnesen is professional manager at Barnevakten. Photo: Privat Their experience is that children talk together about things that are rough and strong, instead of their parents. – How can parents manage to keep up with what their children are doing, is it even possible? – Most children really need us to be alert, present and have good communication. The most important thing is that you know your child and can read them, instead of reading their logs on the phone and having monitoring programs, Tønnesen believes. Small drops in everyday life Parents usually ask how their child has been at school, but Tønnesen believes it is just as important to ask how they have been on the internet today. She believes that small drops in everyday life are important. Show interest naturally, while doing other things, she believes. – Then we can also show that we know that there is a lot on the internet that is not good either, so that they don’t think they have to protect us from what is shocking. Because there are probably quite a few who believe that.
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Children share gross abuse videos – now the police are sending letters to parents – news Vestfold and Telemark – Local news, TV and radio
