Snapchat linked to sexual abuse of 121 children age 12 and under; Six raped

An RTL Nieuws investigation into hundreds of Dutch court rulings has found that more than 121 children age 12 and under were sexually abused via Snapchat over the past five years. In 19 cases, the abuse involved physical sexual contact, including six cases of rape. The youngest victim identified was 6 years old. She received a sexually explicit image from a 33-year-old employee at her primary school.

The rape cases include a 12-year-old girl who was raped after meeting a 43-year-old man on the app. After several weeks of contact, he persuaded her to run away from home. She was then raped at his residence.

Her mother was unaware of the contact. “The life is out of her,” she told RTL. “The look in her eyes was different. She was a nice girl, happy. She laughed and enjoyed life. After that, it seemed like no one was home anymore.”

RTL Nieuws reviewed hundreds of criminal court decisions involving child sexual abuse and found at least 121 victims age 12 or younger linked to Snapchat. The vast majority of cases occurred in the past five years.

In 19 cases, the abuse involved physical sexual contact. Six children were raped. The remaining cases involved online sexual abuse.

In another case described in court documents, the daughter of a woman identified as Jeanet (name changed for privacy) was sexually abused online for two years.

Court records show chat logs are often used as key evidence in these cases. Examples of messages sent to young children were included in legal files, though investigators said the most extreme examples were not publicly shown.

Experts say the documented cases likely represent only a fraction of the problem. “This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Ine Dilven, a victim attorney and board member of the Dutch National Network of Violence and Sexual Crime Victim Lawyers, told RTL. She said many cases never reach court because offenders are not caught and children often do not speak out. “The shame is too great.”

Dilven added that cases often begin with a single report from one parent, after which multiple additional victims are uncovered. “The cases are getting bigger and more serious. We probably have no idea how large this is.”