If your teen boy posts on social media a semi-nude, nude or other explicit image of a teen girl she or someone else texted him, he could land in jail for sharing child pornography…just like a Maryland boy this week.
The Anne Arundel County Child Abuse Unit charged a 17-year old boy for posting on Instagram photos that “mainly depicted juvenile females posing nude or engaging in sexual activity,” a statement from the police stated.
Police received in March 2014 a tip about the images which referred to the name of different Anne Arundel County high schools.
Detectives researching the incident said the girls or another person took the consensual photos.
This is a trend where law enforcement is using crime shared on social media to investigate and arrest perpetrators. Criminals are brazenly advertising their bad acts or, in this case, may not be aware of what they are doing is a crime, in addition to being unethical.
Here too, the arrest and charge sends a message to boys and girls that their wanton and reckless sharing in social media has consequences.
Also, parents of girls (and boys) need to alert them of the importance of not taking sexually explicit images of themselves and sexting.
If you see explicit images of young children and teens in social media, report it to Instagram’s Help Center at help.instagram.com and to the Cyber Tip Line of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at http://www.cybertipline.com.
Jay Jay Ghatt is also editor at Techyaya.com, founder of the JayJayGhatt.com and JayJayGhatt.com where she teaches online creators how to navigate digital entrepreneurship and offers Do-It-For-You Blogging Service. She manages her lifestyle sites BellyitchBlog, Jenebaspeaks and JJBraids.com and is the founder of BlackWomenTech.com 200 Black Women in Tech On Twitter. Her biz podcast 10 Minute Podcast is available on iTunes and Player.fm. Follow her on Twitter at @Jenebaspeaks. Buy her templates over at her legal and business templates on Etsy shop!
