More than 1,000 Danish youths charged for sharing sex videos

More than 1,000 Danish youths have been charged by police after sharing video clips on Facebook involving 15-year-olds having sex - even though the age of consent in Denmark is 15.

The charges are part of the biggest case in Danish history involving the sharing of offensive images of children, following a coordinated police operation that dates back to 2015, reports The Copenhagen Post. If found guilty of distributing child pornography, the defendants face a possible fine or a 20-day suspended sentence, both of which would give them a criminal record, and may be banned from working with children for a decade.

Facebook informed US authorities after receiving reports of the two videos and an explicit photo being spread on its messaging service, The Daily Telegraph writes. Facebook told CNN it has a zero-tolerance of child exploitation images and non-consensual sharing of intimate images.

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While the age of consent in Denmark is 15, Danish law considers distributing sexual material involving people under the age of 18 to be distribution of child pornography, CNN says.

A total of around 800 boys and 200 girls have been charged, most of whom are between the ages of 15 and 20.

So far 1,004 people across Denmark face preliminary charges over the videos - a step short of formal charges, CBS News reports.