Spain

[ES] CAC denounces two child pornography websites to the prosecutor and the police

IRIS 2017-5:1/13

Mònica Duran Ruiz

Catalan Audiovisual Council

On 8 March 2017, the Catalan Audiovisual Council (CAC) denounced two child pornography websites to the State prosecution and to the Catalan police. The Council took this action following a complaint made against the two above-mentioned websites.

The two sites are in English and offer free-to-view photographs of underage girls who are nude or semi-nude. One of the two websites announces that on a pay-per-view basis, each user can access a range of 1,000 videos and 10,000 pictures banned on social networks.

The first website belongs to the profile of an online community based in the United States which is specialised in artistic content. After analysing this website, the CAC stated that the webpage contains pictures of girls that appear to be underage. The girls are in lingerie and are holding a camera or mobile phone in their hand, as if they had taken the photograph of themselves in a mirror.

Some of these pictures include the address of the second website with a title that suggests that they are teenagers. This second site shows girls that appear to be underage exhibiting their sexual organs, some of whom are in an explicit sexual act. The website announces that by means of payment or on a subscription basis, a user can access a large volume of videos and photograph which, according to the website, were banned on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.

In its report on these two websites, the CAC concluded that, given the characteristics of the graphic material and the fact that those presented in it appear to be underage, the content on display could be classified as child pornography and can, therefore, constitute conduct liable to be in breach of Article 189 of the Spanish Criminal Code.