Couples sharing private videos online shock police

The city police have stumbled upon some Facebook groups and Twitter handles that encourage couples to share their private and intimate videos within secret groups, which are now under scanner.

It was a routine investigation into some recent cases, in which men were arrested for sharing private photographs and videos of women, some of which were of their friends, when the police came across such social media groups that encourage couples.

However, with no one complaining so far, efforts are on to see whether the photographs and videos in such groups are being shared with the consent of both partners involved and whether they come under the definition of sharing of pornographic material.

According to a senior official from the Central Investigation Department (CID), there were several ‘closed groups’ on Facebook which had couples as members and where sharing of sex videos and private photographs between the members was being encouraged. However, these groups were not open to all, with membership allowed only to



known persons.

The police are keeping an eye on such groups, on which information reportedly was leaked by a few suspects held in recent cases."We can act only if we receive a complaint,” the official said. Police suspect that some of the videos could have been shared without the consent of the partner, as was done by the persons arrested. The recent incidents involved men sharing photographs and videos of women, with whom they were friends.

Some of the cases were revenge acts, while in some other cases, the suspects had shot photographs and videos of the women without them knowing and then shared them in other groups or via fake Facebook profiles that they created, and also via WhatsApp.

Police believe that with the Centre recently blocking 3,000 websites hosting pornographic content, people were finding new ways to share such content. And miscreants looking at maligning women and girlfriends were exploiting social media for this, with such instances too being on the rise in Hyderabad.