Scandal in the American armed forces. The CIR (Center for Investigative Reporting), a non-profit organization in Emeryville (California) has just denounced the case of a private Facebook group in which photos of naked women have been published .
As revealed by the aforementioned organization, the Naval Criminal Investigation Service is investigating a Facebook group called "Marines United . " Apparently, some American and British soldiers would have used it to post intimate photos of their fellow soldiers.
It appears that the participants in this group would be soldiers from the Marine Corps, the Navy Corpsman and the Royal Marines . The images would be of military women and, according to an anonymous veteran, at this time more than 24 professionals have already been identified, all identified with names and positions within the army.
Private Facebook groups can be a great tool for sharing information, images, and other files with people who are part of the same community.
However, as with all technological tools, misuse can lead to dire consequences. And this has been the case. So much so that after the complaints, the body's investigation service would have gone to work to find those responsible for what happened .
Hundreds of Marines are reportedly under investigation. At this point, however, it seems that many of the Facebook accounts (although also Google Drive) have already been closed .
Logically, the US military authorities would have also retaliated against the main authors implicated in the publication of these private images . Thus, some of those who have already been identified have been fired or forced to withdraw from service.
What is not so clear is what has happened to the material published in the famous Facebook group. It is noted, in fact, that just two weeks after the account responsible for some of the photos was closed, in the middle of last February, the images still remained there .
A private group with almost 30,000 members
We're not really talking about a super private group. The United Marines is a group with more than 30,000 members , who in addition to posting and viewing the images, made comments about them. Hence, the investigation has been extended to more than a hundred soldiers.
The group was launched in 2015, but was only open to male members of the US and UK corps . The most veterans recognize that from the beginning it was a space dedicated to the publication of photos of girls (without their consent, of course), as well as pornographic content and photos taken of women in public places. As if this weren't enough, a good number of messages about abuse and racist comments were included.
Military women identified by names and positions
The soldiers who published intimate photos of their companions not only limited themselves to uploading photographs, but also identified them by name, surname, specialization, position and destination .
Most of the images appeared to have been stolen or taken from private accounts. The comments, in some cases more than 2,500, asked the authors to publish more images .
Photographs began circulating just after the Marine Corps had assigned to the first marines to positions of Infantry . Ash Carter, the former Defense Secretary, had announced a year earlier that the positions would be open to women.
The Marine Corps is concerned about the consequences for the corps' reputation. Meanwhile, some victims report having received threats. The body will offer them all the assistance they need to carry out the pertinent legal actions.