‘Teenage Porn’ Network Scandal Rocks North Macedonia

The alleged founder of a social group called "Javna Soba" [Public Room], which is at the centre of a scandal in North Macedonia involving teen pornography, on Monday insisted that his original intention had been innocent.

This group, hosted by the Russian social network Telegram, hit the spotlight over the weekend after two news sites that managed to get access to the group reported that it served as an exchange for pornographic material - often from teenage girls.

The group originally had some 7,400 members, and according to the reports, in some instances, the group also contained the alleged identifies and even the phone numbers of the girls whose materials were shared, causing even greater concern.

"We wanted to make a group for sharing funny videos and in no case pornography," the alleged administrator of the group who goes by the nickname "Medo" told local A1On news site, which broke the scandal in the first place.

But "things got out of control", said the administrator, whose identity was not known to the news site, adding that ever since he had fruitlessly tried to close the group, although closing his personal account reportedly did not help.

The existence of this group, which cannot be joined without a direct invitation from a member, shocked North Macedonia over the weekend, raising concern about the safety of the private data of the children and teenagers, as well as about public morality.

A1On previously reported that it had spotted phone numbers listed in this group that were known to belong to local public figures.

On Sunday, the Interior Ministry said it was working on the case. "The computer crime and forensics sector has immediately contacted the 'Telegram' network in order to get the needed info on the...