The predators of 'pretty pipers'

■ Khamarie Rodriguez

WHEN teenage Alicia's images were posted among the many predatory 'pretty pipers' Instagram pages last week, her world imploded, leaving her fighting off intense thoughts of suicide and self-harm.

Alicia (a minor, whose name has been altered to protect her identity) discovered in the late hours two Sundays ago that the intimate photos she had been pressured to take by an older male classmate had been shared to an audience of thousands, screenshotted, and re-shared within the span of hours.

The images made their way to an unknown number of strangers, then to her schoolmates at her high school in South Trinidad, throughout the community in which she grew up, and finally to her family members.

Isolated and afraid to bring shame on her parents, she told the Express last week that she wished she could 'disappear,' after reporting the posts to Meta, Instagram's parent company.

She had hoped to end a weeklong campaign of cyberbullying that had tainted multiple minors on the platform.

But it would take two attempts and over 24 hours before the posts had been removed by the faceless account owner on Monday. By then, Alicia told the Express, the damage had already been done.

'The majority of people from the area, people who know me saw it and whoever saw it screenshotted it and shared it and people were messaging me. Girls were messaging me saying I was exposed and all that. I couldn't cry it out, but everything was painful inside me. I just wanted it to be done.'

'My father, since he heard about it, has not talked to me. I haven't talked to him since it happened. I am seeing him when he comes home but he is not talking to me…I feel like I always bring shame to my household. I don't know how to go outside to be out there or to communicate with anyone. It is hard to open up because I don't know who to trust,' she said.

Despite a Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) condemnation of the emergence of the 'pretty pipers' trend on Tuesday, over 60 accounts remained active on Instagram by late last week, several continuing to post defamatory, suggestive, and explicit content of minors and adults on their platforms.

Many of the accounts appeared over the past week and have made use of Instagram's story feature to share non-consensual intimate images, or derogatory statements about unsuspecting victims - most often young women and men.

By Thursday, several had posted links to various Discord servers, promising a platform of 'leaks,' and boasting thousands of members. Discord is one of multiple online platforms known to host various local sex predator networks through which child pornography and intimate image abuse is perpetrated.

For Alicia, the accounts have only worsened years-worth of in-school bullying, moving peer harassment to the online sphere at a worrying pace. Her bullies, she said, she believed had played a part in the violation.

She said that the account which disseminated her private images was believed to be run by two 15-year-old girls attending a high school in the area. More than this, she said she believed that many of the accounts continuing the trend were run by other teenagers.

'They started to post photos of girls, girls 12 years and under and they were really bashing girls. The worst of things they could have said they said. I tried reporting all of it. From what I am hearing it is children who went to the school. Some are from different schools, 1415 years on the account. I don't think there is anyone over 18 running those accounts,' she said.

Victim blaming culture

The Humanitarian Foundation for Positive Social Change, (a non-governmental organisation (NGO)) which has infiltrated hundreds of predator networks online and filed a constitutional motion to compel the State to investigate child pornography violations), told the Express that the TTPS' Child Protection Unit last week indicated that it had received multiple reports on the accounts.

The Unit, the Foundation says it was told, was trying to determine how to deal with the incoming reports.

Founder Shamira Sooklal said last week the accounts operated by the sending in of illegal content, including child pornography, to account owners by facilitators who were in some cases minors themselves. She said that the Organisation had received information that the account owners too were likely minors or teenagers.

But perpetrators' ages, she said, would not protect them from potential prosecution.

'The age of criminal responsibility differs across jurisdiction and in Trinidad and Tobago what people may not be aware of, is that the age of criminal responsibility is seven…' she said.

'I think that people just don't have respect for others. They do not understand the danger that they're putting these victims in and causing incitement of violence and harassment toward them is extremely reprehensible. These perpetrators have no regard for the fact that there are predators and perverts who would stalk these victims and it can lead to further crimes against the victims,' she added.

Sooklal said that the open sharing of victim's private images would likely embolden networks that were already operating underground. In addition to this, she said, the culture of victim blaming in Trinidad and Tobago was likely worsened by lack of proper training among local authorities.

'The authorities do not deal with the reports brought to them by women or even children properly. I want to know why there is no proper training of our professionals. That responsibility is on the State. I have seen it too often where public professionals lack training to deal with these situations and they exacerbate and bring pain and frustration to the victims. I think it goes across the board. The professional standard is very low,' she said.

She said that the Foundation was currently working with Alicia and had applied through the Children's Court for three protection orders on behalf of the victim. These orders, she said fell under the Domestic Violence Act and the Offences Against a Person Act Section 30 D for harassment.

She said that victims needed to document their experiences as much as possible.

For victims of child pornography or intimate image abuse who need their images to be removed online, she said, the Foundation was referred by Meta to the 'Take it Down.' initiative, carried out by the US-based National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

Meta and other social media platforms such as TikTok and Snapchat have recently participated with the Centre to remove nude, partially nude, or sexually explicit images or videos of people under the age of 18 from its listed sites.

Information on the initiative can be found at https://takeitdown. ncmec. org Additionally, Sooklal said, the Foundation currently has a team of attorneys who are volunteering to give free legal advice to victims and their parents.

Victims can contact the TTPS' Special Victims Department at 612-2470 Extensions:16057/ 16058.

The HFPSC can be reached by telephone at (868) 2690657 or e-mail at HFPSC. info@ gmail. com.