Case Study

A Facebook photo of Robert Hull, who was arrested earlier this month on child pornography chargesPaedophiles are brazenly sharing child pornography pictures and videos on Facebook, and internet safety experts believe the social networking site has failed to curtail the practice.

In an investigation, this website established that there are countless profiles and groups created by paedophiles – sometimes using their real names – who publish child pornography images and videos on the site.Paedophiles add a series of keywords to their profiles – such as “lolita”, “hussyfan”, “r@ygold” and “PTHC” (pre-teen hardcore) – which helps them find each other on the site using the built-in search feature.

“Thanks to my new friends for helping me realise that I am more normal than I thought I was,” reads a wall post by one user, who talks about abusing his “gorgeous” 10-year-old daughter.“So this is where we let it all hang out and can finally talk openly and share with like-minded people.”

The user lists his activities as “daughters”, “lolitas” and “I love to play with my daughter”.

The predators often pose as children by using pictures of children as their profile photos and listing on their profiles that they are still in school.“So this is where we let it all hang out and can finally talk openly and share with like-minded people.”Facebook predators uncovered in researching this story, including some users who list their location as Australia, were referred to the Australian Federal Police for investigation.

The user lists his activities as “daughters”, “lolitas” and “I love to play with my daughter”.

Countless examples of child porn

Hull allegedly victimised a four-year-old girl to produce the images and his interests listed on his Facebook profile include “2 to 12yo girls” and “playing with my little girl”.The predators often pose as children by using pictures of children as their profile photos and listing on their profiles that they are still in school.“The blog is just the tip of the iceberg … Facebook’s efforts to deal with this have been underwhelming but the problem is bigger than just them,” she said in a phone interview.The US member’s vigilance has paid off in at least one instance. Robert Hull, 35, from Idaho, who regularly featured on the Facebookwatcher blog, was arrested this month on charges of “production and transportation of sexually explicit images of minors”, the US Attorney’s Office announced.