RTÉ's graphic design department produced a computer generated image girl that was used on the profile. The RTÉ Investigations Unit created a profile of a fictitious 14-year-old called Amy. The programme discovered some of those misappropriating the pictures were also involved in attempting to groom teenagers online. Many of the comments are threatening and abusive.
Many of the sites encourage 'members' to comment on the photos. Personal information related to the individuals in the photos is also shared online. The girls and their parents are completely unaware their images are being misappropriated in this way. The pictures, in the main, are of young girls in their very early teens. However, those images are being copied by individuals who upload the pictures in their thousands to photo-sharing websites and in many cases to extreme hard-core pornography sites. The photos of Irish girls ending up on pornography sites are typical, innocent pictures, taken in social settings, the likes of which can be found on thousands of social media pages across the world. In a report on RTÉ's Prime Time tonight, 'Online and Unprotected' reveals some of the dangers young people face from the use of social media.
Thousands of photos of Irish teenage girls are ending up on hard-core pornography sites without their knowledge, the RTÉ Investigations Unit has found.
