In the past few days, a disturbing Telegram group by the name of V2K came to light for sharing and distributing explicit pictures and videos of women and minors without their consent. The group had an astounding 38K members at its peak. Other similar groups that have been exposed online include Vitamins for Testicles and Virgin Boys.
We spoke to a victim of the V2K Telegram group who had her photographs distributed in the group. She told us that she was not alone. Together with several other victims, they were able to infiltrate the Telegram group in hopes to gather information and raise awareness about the issue.
They were successful and their discovery was shocking.
Beside posting photographs of women stolen from the social media pages, explicit images of women without consent, the group had paid subscriptions for hacked CCTV footages, child pornography and even footages of beastiality.
Especially worried for minors, the victims could not keep silent. When the issue began to catch traction on social media, she told us that the perpetrators began to target her and the other victims. Incited by being exposed, the members of the group started to hunt and harass her and other victims on social media. They looked for her address and social media. She says the harassment has not stopped.
In response to the exposure, the group members were unapologetic and fell back to age-old victim blaming.
A member commented in the group that “the girls do not feel embarrassed when they go out scantily clad but when we admire them in this Telegram group they feel embarrassed. Why do they feel like this is such a big sin that we are admiring them?”
The group admins also made preparations in case they were shut down, setting up backup Telegram chat groups and even creating an instagram page under the guise of scouting models.
The group and Instagram page has been reported and Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has been alerted about the issue. However, Instagram has decided that the group did not violate its Community Guidelines. The Instagram page is still up and active at the moment of writing.
Similarly, Telegram has not responded to user reports about the misuse of the social messaging platform. Rather, they released an update on 2nd October 2020 which allows group admins to remain anonymous and invisible.
According to malaysiakini, although no police reports have been filed, the Bukit Aman Sexual, Women and Child Investigations Division (D11) has taken the initiative to investigate the issue.
On the night of 2nd October 2020, the MCMC released a statement that it had notified Telegram of the matter on 9th June 2020 for further assessment and action. Now, the MCMC is working closely with Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) and is escalating the issue to Interpol for their assistance to actively pursue Telegram as it does not reside in Malaysia.
Media Statement: MCMC NOTIFIED TELEGRAM OVER LOCAL GROUPS SPREADING WOMEN’S PHOTO & CHILD PORN #MCMC #SKMM
Posted by Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia on Friday, October 2, 2020
Early this morning (3rd October 2020), SYOK received a screenshot showing that V2K can no longer be accessed. However, the screenshot also shows that many other similar predator groups are still active.
This is not the first sex scandal to be borne out of the use of Telegram. Similar shocking discoveries have been made in Korea and Singapore.
The victim told SYOK that she is aware that such groups will continue to proliferate. Her hope is that this incident will not only take down V2K and other similar chat groups but rather that it would be an incentive to begin education on consent and victim blaming in schools across the nation. She also hopes that Telegram will take the matter seriously and put into place tighter regulations to prevent such groups from flourishing.
If your pictures have been leaked into this group or you know someone that has experienced something similar, get in touch with All Women’s Action Society (AWAM).
By: Catalina Hubbard
