[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
Well, this is one of the most disgusting and despicable things we’ve read about all week.
According to multiple reports from CNN and other outlets, an Italian Facebook group in which men shared intimate photos of their wives, girlfriends, and strangers has finally been shut down after being up for SIX YEARS despite receiving thousands of complaints in that time.
What. The. F**K!!!!
Per the aforementioned news outlet, the FB group Mia Moglie (aka “my wife” in Italian) was chock-full of more than 32,000 men, and centered on those users sharing intimate photos of their wives, GFs, and even strangers. The photos were shared without the womens’ permission. And some of the snaps even being taken in a stealth, non-consensual manner. And then, the men in the group would all get to look, share, and keep the private pics. DESPICABLE.
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Like we said, the group had been operating since 2019. And lots and lots and lots of people knew about it!!! Authorities in Rome and around Italy had received more than 2,000 complaints, but Facebook’s parent company Meta didn’t do s**t… until now.
Cops estimate hundreds of thousands of images passed around via the FB page, including snaps taken during sexual activities and images shared by men entirely without their partners’ knowledge.
The page was eventually shut down late last month after Italy’s Postal Police — which is the law enforcement arm responsible for digital crime in the country — formally launched a criminal investigation. In a statement about the shutdown, Roman Postal Police deputy director Barbara Strappato said that all user comments and images shared on the page “will be filed in our information system.” She added:
“I admit that I have never seen such disturbing phrases in a social media group before. … [The crimes] range from defamation to the dissemination of intimate material without consent.”
According to Strappato, the page’s final post made a subtle reference to another platform — likely Telegram, she believes — where users can continue to chat with each other away from the eyes of law enforcement. Per multiple media outlets, the now-deleted FB group’s administrator departed with this chilling final message:
“We’ve just created a new private and secure group. Goodbye, and f**k you moralists.”
Gross.
The page was filled with real men using their real accounts — tied to their real, full names — who would make INSANE comments on the photos. Per Vice, some comments included awful instructions like:
“If she’s shy, take photos secretly”
“Put your hands between her thighs and see if she wakes up”
Meta Italy eventually confirmed the group was yanked for “violating our policies against the sexual exploitation of adults.”
No s**t…
Once word of the awful group spread out to the wider world, the Italian news org Corriere Della Sera interviewed a woman whose photos had appeared on the page without her consent. The women, who chose to remain anonymous, told the outlet:
“I feel shattered in two. I learned through my sister… some photos had already been passed around on Telegram. I’m afraid this could affect my children.”
Absolutely awful. We can’t even imagine what she’s going through.
In case you are curious, Italy does have a revenge-porn law. Passed in 2019, the law states that anyone caught sharing sexually explicit images non-consensually or as revenge porn could face up to six years in prison.
For more information on violence against women, go to https://www.justice.gov/ovw/resources-for-survivors.
[Image via MEGA/WENN]