Young women and parents in Northern Ireland have challenged a sick Facebook group showing innocent photos of Co Down school girls dressed in their school uniforms.
The group also included stolen images of other teenagers and the admin states the group is, “For sharing photos [of] pretty girls in school uniforms .. genuine pictures only please”.
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They have swiped photos from the social media pages of schoolgirls from across the globe without their knowledge or permission and permitted comments below each.
And Facebook has confirmed tonight that they have now removed the Facebook group for "violating our policies"
On Monday, a number of innocent photos of young women appeared on the page from when they were pupils in Co Down and more are coming to light.
Student Lucy McClean, from Bangor is now 19. Pictured as a 15-year-old, she and several friends had been captured on smartphone cameras celebrating the end of term four years ago while posing for innocent pictures at school.
In one stolen photo, Lucy is pictured inside the school in 2018 with five fellow pupils, in another she is seen with seven girls. In each of the images, the Co Down girls are fully dressed in school uniforms with regulation black tights.
The photos were shared on their own social media sites but now they have been targeted and shared on to a pervert page aimed at sexualising children.
Lucy McLean, now an art and fashion student at the Ulster University, asked her mum Heather to help her have the page banned by Facebook.
Lucy said: “Innocent pictures of myself and my friends in school and posted on what is basically a paedophile page that’s intended for only one thing. The comments below the photos are disgusting.
“The page has been reported several times tonight to Facebook but we’ve heard nothing back. The complaints are pending.”
Lucy and her school pals were 15 and 16 when the end of term photos were taken inside their former school.
But both photos have appeared alongside hundreds of others in the Facebook group which is attracting responses containing explicit sexual content. It currently has 1,300 followers and has been running since February 2022.
Her mum Heather said: “It’s absolutely disgusting and this page needs to be closed now. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of images of girls in school uniforms, including my daughter.
“Some of the respondents say the pictures used were taken up to 15 years ago. There is no nudity but the pictures are obviously intended for people who get sexual thrills from looking at young girls and children in school uniforms.
“The comments below the pictures are vile, disgusting. These girls have shared with each other what were perfectly innocent pictures and some pervert has stolen them and put them on his site for thrills. They have tarnished lovely memories into the bargain. Our children should be protected from this filth and intrusion into their lives.”
Images included on the page show some schoolgirls’ innocent hi-jinx, some caught accidently showing underwear, some in mock poses and others are children who appear to be aged around 10.
Heather said: “It’s very obvious this is not an innocent Facebook page to celebrate young women. It’s has been created for sexual thrills for perverts and paedophiles.
“When Lucy told me about it, I looked at the site and I was horrified by the comments below the pictures. I just can’t unsee those comments. They make me sick.
"Facebook apparently did not feel the need to delete the group. However the vile admins of the group have removed all pictures and comments. Facebook is a disgrace. They really need to sort out what is actually appropriate and what is very clearly not.
“Facebook has a responsibility to take this site down and share the details with police. The whole thing is disgusting, sickening and dangerous."
Belfast Live has seen scores of responses from outraged adults saying they have reported the page to Facebook and are awaiting response.
Others have reported it to the PSNI and state that they have been told "no crime has been committed" and they have been advised to "change privacy settings" on their social media.
School children in uniforms from hundreds of schools from across the globe appeared on the page.
The contents of the page were edited last night after hundreds of complaints and while all the content appears to have been removed, the page appears to remain public.
A spokesperson for Meta, said: “We remove Facebook profiles, pages and groups that are dedicated to sharing otherwise innocent images of children with captions, hashtags or comments that contain inappropriate signs of affection or commentary. We have removed this Facebook group for violating our policies.”
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