Social media users need to make sure their privacy settings are constantly updated if they want to avoid having their photos shared freely online by third parties.
A group of girls have learned this the hard way over the past few days, after they came across their photos on the recently-launched Facebook page, Pretty Girls in Malta.
Photos of teenage girls were shared on the page, which had already gained over 500 followers, some of which alongside vulgar captions.
While the photos with such captions have since been taken down following reports to Facebook by users, the page is still up and running. Many have posted on the page itself, calling on whoever runs it to shut it down. Some users have even claimed to have reported the case to the police.
A police spokeswoman said that the mere copying of public photos from one profile to another was not a criminal offence, although if the content was being used to extort money, the matter could be considered blackmail.
“Given that Facebook is managed by an entity located overseas, the local police are not in a position to order the removal of content from Facebook,” the spokeswoman said.
Photos of teenage girls were shared on the page
Meanwhile, data issued by Eurostat – the statistical office of the European Union – to mark Safer Internet Day being celebrated today, showed that Maltese internet users had among the highest rates of security issues in the EU.
Last year, a quarter of internet users in the EU reported common security issues, such as viruses affecting devices, abuse of personal information, financial losses or children accessing inappropriate websites.
Croatia and Hungary reported the most cases, with a share of 42 per cent and 39 per cent respectively of their internet users. That was followed by Portugal at 36 per cent and Malta at 34 per cent.
Across member states, the share of internet users who have experienced a computer virus was highest in Croatia at 41 per cent, followed by Hungary (36 per cent), Portugal (33 per cent), France (29 per cent), Bulgaria and Malta, both 28 per cent.
A quarter of surveyed internet users in Malta said they did not shop online because of security fears.