On Telegram, an NGO has discovered tens of thousands of messages in which Serbian users exchange intimate photos and videos, sometimes child pornography.
In 2021, Stasa Ivkovic, an anonymous person among others, learned that Telegram channels known for circulating pornographic content were distributing her personal data: intimate photos, address, telephone number, etc.
It all started with an anonymous message. “They found everything – my address, who my parents were, and pretty much all the information available,” the founder of the NGO Osnazene – “Powerful Women” – told AFP.
Then comes an uninterrupted stream of sexual messages, insults, on each of his social networks. Every day, every hour, almost every minute.
Harassment leading to an edifying investigation
This harassment led the young woman to spend years exploring the darkest corners of Serbian social networks, where pornographic and child pornography videos are exchanged.
A few years later, with two other members of Osnazene, which she created in January 2024, she managed to infiltrate different Telegram channels to expose their methods.
According to the results of this survey published in June, more than 10,000 messages are exchanged every day on the different channels that the NGO monitors. The largest of them has 70,000 subscribers.
Members use the codes “-18” or “teen commerce” to find child pornography, explains Stasa Ivkovic.
“Men, often young, take photos of their mothers and sisters, then send the images to these groups to note them, share them…”, adds the activist.
Published “shopping lists”
In messages seen by AFP, a man asks if “anyone has a 20-year-old sister,” saying he is willing to “give photos of her (his) in exchange.” In others, a veritable “shopping list” is published, offering photos of minors, elderly women, etc.
Still others exchange photos of women taken without their knowledge in the street, under their skirts: “Women are literally not safe anywhere,” insists Stasa Ivkovic.
One of the cases that most affected her was that of a woman whose rape was filmed and then distributed on numerous Telegram channels, before appearing on a pornographic video site – from which it was eventually deleted.
According to the Office of the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, this phenomenon is due to the persistence in Serbian society of “deeply rooted traditional patriarchal stereotypes, where the family and society consider women as the property of men.”
Osnazene’s investigation joins thousands of accusations around the world targeting Telegram and other platforms that share illicit pornographic content.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov was arrested in France in August and charged with publishing illegal content on his app.
Serbia has a troubled history with these platforms. In 2021, a major investigation led in particular by the FBI, the American federal police, and targeting the encrypted messaging application Sky ECC, led to the arrest of high-ranking members of the mafia, who fearlessly posted photos of their crimes, dismembered corpses…
Serbia faces “revenge porn”
However, the authorities do not seem to appreciate the extent of the problem, accuse activists like Stasa Ivkovic.
Unlike its neighbours Croatia and Montenegro, Serbia has not yet adopted a law on “revenge porn” (the dissemination of intimate content for revenge) or the dissemination of illicit content in discussion groups.
While people arrested in possession of child pornography can be charged, in cases of “revenge porn” only a named complaint can lead to prosecution, according to lawyer Jelena Drndarski; which complicates the victims’ journey, while platforms like Telegram guarantee anonymity.
Faced with what they consider to be a form of impunity, activists from the Autonomous Women’s Centre (AZC) in Belgrade have called for tougher legislation in a petition that has collected tens of thousands of signatures. So far, without success.
Between 2011 and April 2024, 717 people were prosecuted in Serbia for possession of child pornography and exploitation of minors, and 408 were sentenced, most to suspended prison sentences or fines, according to Osnazene’s investigation.
On the other hand, the sentence for the victims is lifelong, says Vanja Macanovic of the AZC. “These videos, these photos, remain online forever. And the victims live in fear that someone will see them again.”
The Serbian Special Prosecutor’s Office for High-Tech Crimes did not respond to AFP’s requests for comment.
