Fights, stabbings, child sex acts – the brutal footage young people are viewing on Snapchat

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the worldSign up to our free Morning Headlines emailGraphic videos showing violent fights, stabbings, and sex acts involving children are being viewed by vulnerable young people on social media network Snapchat, new research has found. Researchers spoke to 13 children living in deprived areas across the UK to try and understand what young people are seeing on social media and how it affects them. They found that large group chats, as well as the app’s ‘Quick Add’ function, which suggests people to be friends with, were being used to disperse graphic content widely.One 14-year-old girl who lives in London under the care of a foster parent said she sees violent or sexual content on Snapchat every day, sometimes several times. She said she had been sent explicit pictures by strangers since the day she first downloaded the app. She said it disturbed her initially, but now she is so used to it that “it doesn’t really faze you any more”.She also described one Snapchat group that involves around 60 children from her school. Members post videos or photos of people having fights, performing sex acts, or holding weapons
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