Over 1000 people have been charged for sharing sexually explicit content without consent on Facebook in the biggest case of its kind in Denmark. 
 
 According to Danish police, two videos and a sexually explicit image involving two 15-year-olds were originally posted to Facebook Messenger, the platform's private chat service. The video was then shared hundreds of times across the platform, and now, a total of 1,004 young people have been charged — and about 800 are male, reports Bloomberg. While the content was posted by someone within Denmark, it's unclear if everyone accused of sharing it are from the country. 
 
 The age of consent in Denmark is 15, but Danish police said sharing the media could be considered illegal distribution of child pornography. The charged range in age from 15 years to people in their 20s. 
 
 "It's a very big and complex matter that has taken a long time to investigate. Not least because of the large number of charged. We have taken the case very seriously as it has major implications for those involved when such material is spread. And it must be stopped," said police inspector Lau Thygesen from North Zealand Police in a press statement. 
 
 Facebook reportedly received reports that the content had been shared and notified U.S. authorities. Then, the information was sent through the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) to Danish police, who initiated their own investigation under the name "Umbrella." 
 
 The case comes after Denmark made a big push toward seeking harsher punishment for revenge porn. In February, the country's government announced a series of measures to curb an increase in the online sharing of nudes without consent — now, in Denmark you can go to prison for up to two years. 
 
 Revenge porn has also recently become a top priority for Facebook's safety team, who have been working increasingly with local law enforcement on the issue. 
 
 After announcing a new set of reporting tools in April, Facebook rolled out a pilot program to help prevent image-based abuse and revenge porn being shared across its platforms. 
 
 Testing in Australia first, then the U.S., UK and Canada, the pilot is an extension of the company's previously announced set of tools for users on Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram to prevent intimate images from being shared without consent. 
 
 Facebook was already testing a system that didn't immediately block posted images. When images were flagged, they were reviewed by Facebook's Community Operations team, then the platform used photo-matching tech to prevent additional uploads before they can be shared. 
 
 While revenge porn is slowly being more heavily criminalised across countries like Denmark, and while portals for reporting are a huge step forward, the onus should still be on perpetrators uploading this content in the first place. Just don't, eh? ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. 
 
 More than 1,000 children and young people in Denmark have been charged with redistributing child pornography after sex videos featuring 15-year-olds were shared on Facebook Messenger. 
 
 Monday's move came after the California-based social media giant alerted U.S. authorities that the videos, along with a sexually explicit photo, were being spread online. 
 
 It also comes amid growing concern about sexting among school-age children and instances of revenge porn. 
 
 "It may be a prank, but it can have adult consequences" 
 
 “We have taken the case very seriously as it has major implications for those involved when such material is spread,” Inspector Lau Thygesen from Denmark’s North Zealand Police said in a statement. “And it must be stopped.” 
 
 Prosecutors will assess each case, Thygesen said, with punishments ranging from a criminal record entry to having their name added to child protection registers for 10 years. 
 
 The 1,004 alleged offenders range in age from 15 to their early 20s; most shared the videos once or twice but some did so hundreds of times. 
 
 Denmark’s National Cyber Crime Center said the case began last year when Facebook received reports that the sex videos were being shared on its Messenger chat platform. It deleted the material and alerted U.S. authorities, who in turn contacted Europol and Danish police. 
 
 Authorities would not give details but said the victims were aged 15 when they were recorded. Although having sex at 15 is legal in Denmark, distributing images of anyone aged under 18 is a criminal offense. “This could be a violation of section 235 of the criminal code, distribution of child pornography,” the police statement said. 
 
 “It’s quite awful for those who appear on the videos, as their sexual act is now being shared online so many can see it,” said Police Superintendent Flemming Kjaerside of the National Cyber Crime Center told Danish television. “It's catastrophic for them and it can ruin their lives. The young people who shared this video may also be risking something quite ugly for their future … it may be a prank, but it can have adult consequences, since you can be convicted for distributing child pornography.” 
 
 He added that an entry on Denmark’s child protection register would prevent offenders from working in elementary schools or as sports coaches. “If U.S. authorities get information … it can also cause problems with entry into the United States, so it's serious and it has serious consequences far into the future,” Kjaerside said. 
 
 Related: Is social media contributing to rising teen suicide rate? 
 
 Alleged offenders were notified by email over the weekend; those aged under 18 were notified through their parents, police said. 
 
 "The interrogations start today,” National Cyber Crime Center Chief Superintendent Claus Birkelyng told Danish television Monday. "Many of the young people have already been summoned last week, so some of them have been made aware of it over the weekend and the young people will meet with the police today and in the coming weeks." 
 
 Facebook Messenger displayed on the screen of a smartphone. Dominic Lipinski / PA Wire file 
 
 Facebook said it took a "zero-tolerance approach to both non-consensual sharing of intimate images and child exploitation images." 
 
 A spokesman added: “Our systems run in the background and automatically remove and report intimate content involving children to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, who in turn will review and dispatch the relevant information to the right law enforcement agencies across the globe." 
 
 Almost one quarter of U.S. seventh-graders send sexually suggestive texts or photos, with those sending explicit pictures especially likely to engage in sexual behavior, according to a 2014 study published in the journal Pediatrics. ||||| The Facebook Inc. logo sits on screens ahead of the global launch event of "Workplace" at the Facebook Inc. offices in London, U.K., on Monday, Oct. 10, 2016. 
 
 Danish police have charged 1,004 young people with distributing sexually explicit material of two 15-year-olds following a tip-off from Facebook Inc. 
 
 The activity may constitute distribution of child pornography, the Danish National Police said on Monday. The case is “very large and complex,” Police Inspector Lau Thygesen said. “We’ve taken the matter very seriously as it has big consequences for those involved.” 
 
 The case --- the biggest of its kind in Denmark -- follows calls for greater efforts to clamp down on revenge porn and distribution of private material after young women last year detailed in local newspapers how their lives had been destroyed by the publication of photos and video intended only for their partners. The crackdown also comes amid a shift in tolerance toward such acts as the #MeToo movement gains traction. 
 
 “We want to give out a warning to young people: think about what you’re doing,” Flemming Kjaerside, a police superintendent for Denmark’s National Crime Center, said by phone. “Don’t ever share sex videos. It can have consequences for the victims and also for those distributing. We really hope that it is an eyeopener for young people, that they should be careful in the digital world about what you should do.” 
 
 Danish police said they began their investigation after Facebook notified U.S. authorities of two explicit video clips and a photograph of the couple on its chat platform Messenger last year. U.S. authorities in turn notified European police. While most of those charged distributed the material a couple of times, others distributed it several hundred times, Danish police said. 
 
 Those facing charges range in age from 15 years to people in their 20s, Kjaerside said. About 800 are male. If convicted, they face possible prison sentences and will be shut out of some professions such as childcare, Kjaerside said. They may also face immigration restrictions to the U.S.
– The two videos tallied up to 59 seconds and could "ruin my life," says one 19-year-old. She doesn't appear in the footage, but was one of 1,004 people—996 of them between the ages of 15 and 24—notified Monday that they face preliminary charges for sharing child porn. The New York Times delves into the case, which involves video taken of two consenting Danish 15-year-olds having sex. The sex part is legal in the country. but sharing the videos runs afoul of Denmark's child-porn laws. The videos were disseminated via Facebook's Messenger app; Facebook deleted them in the fall upon learning about them and reported them to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which alerted Europol and Danish police, NBC News reports. After months spent tracking social media accounts and IP addresses, Danish police made their move in what Bloomberg calls the "biggest case of its kind" in the country. Prosecutors will make the call on whether to move forward with the charges, and the Times predicts that if they do, it's unlikely anyone will end up in prison. But the paper notes that getting off scot-free could be tough: A conviction would make getting certain jobs (with law enforcement, or working with children) impossible, and even if they were to successfully argue they thought the couple was at least 18, they could be hit with a charge for sharing the video without consent. The videos, which some outlets are calling revenge porn, were made by friends of the couple at a party and then shared by those friends. (This revenge porn targeted female Marines.)