An Australian boys-only Facebook group with nearly 7,000 members has been removed after “revenge porn” images of an underaged girl were allegedly shared.
According to a report in The Guardian, users in the 7,000-strong Facebook group ‘Melb Guy Pals’ repeatedly used derogatory language to talk about women, allegedly sharing revenge porn images and calling for a “Holocaust” for women.
Distributing revenge porn is a serious criminal offence in all states and territories in Australia, except Tasmania and can land you in prison for 2-5 years. In Victoria, where the Melb Guy Pals group is presumably based, the offence carries a maximum prison sentence of two years if the victim is an adult.
Additionally, sharing intimate images of a person under the age of 18 can be considered distribution of child pornography, which carries additional charges and can require you to be listed on the child sex offenders registry.
In short, sharing “revenge porn” is an extremely serious offence. Don’t do it.
The “Melb Guy Pals” page amassed 6,700 members in less than 24 hours before it was eventually deleted.
“Talk shit about any girl you want, stays between the boys … can organise fights in this chat but keep it peaceful,” the group’s description read.
Dozens of posts flooded the group, reportedly calling women “ugly,” “fat” and “whores,” among countless other misogynistic comments.
But it’s not just “talking shit about any girl” that landed this disgusting group in hot water. The group was reportedly shut down after at least one man shared revenge porn, according to The Guardian’s report.
In the group’s short lifespan, one user posted that if he received “75 love reacts” on his post, he’s share his “sex tape” with his ex girlfriend. After receiving the agreed-upon number of likes and being encouraged by other members of the group to “pay up”, the user allegedly posted the video for 20 seconds.
“This video is going up for 20 seconds, you don’t see it, you lose,” he wrote. “I can’t believe I just posted that.”
At the time the video was shared, the group had less than 1,500 members, but it quickly grew in popularity as members began to share more derogatory content.
Revenge porn is already a crime in itself, but since the video was reportedly shared, it has been alleged that the woman in question was under 18 at the time. If this is proven to be true, the footage could be considered child pornography.
Aside from the alleged revenge porn shared in the group, other abusive posts included one user reportedly calling for the “Holocaust #2 but instead of jews (sic) we target women.”
Multiple users reported the group for violating Facebook’s terms of service, however many of them claimed to have received an automated response declaring that the group would not be deleted.
“Melb Guy Pals was reviewed and there was content in the group that doesn’t follow our community standards. We removed that specific content … instead of the entire group.”
Thankfully, the page was removed from Facebook after further investigation.
“We absolutely do not allow content that attempts to exploit, degrade or shame anyone, especially young people, and have removed this group for violating our community standards,” a spokesperson from Facebook told The Guardian.
Since the page was removed on Friday morning, numerous “Melb Guy Pals 2.0” groups have popped up on the platform. At the time of publishing, a number of these closed groups remain active on Facebook, some with upwards of 600 members. However, many of them include a list of rules prohibiting bullying, racism and the distribution of illicit images.
More to come.
