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Anonymous Snapchat accounts sharing compromising content of children and young people drove Lily to attempt to take her own life when she was just 13… Years later, she has told Express of her horror at learning they are still operating in the same way.
Snapchat markets itself as a “fast and fun way to share the moment with your friends and family” – and, for the most part, it is.
But there's also a darker side, with dozens of anonymous accounts operating locally whose content is unkind or even bullying, sometimes violent, and puts children at risk of sexual exploitation, as Express uncovered...
Now a further education student, Lily*, who has autism, first created a Snapchat account when she was in Year 7.
It wasn't long before she became aware of certain anonymous accounts with similar names popping up, where unflattering images people in her age group would be shared to the account's 'story' for all followers to see.
"There were always multiple, with some even posting much worse things than the others," Lily recalled.
"The most common accounts that were made were called 'Jersey Mugs', where it would just be, I don't want to say ugly, but obviously not the best pictures of the people being posted."
Rarely would students know who was behind each account.
People would be encouraged to send embarrassing or compromising photos, videos or even gossip to the anonymous account, which would in turn share the content to its 'story' so that all followers can view them.
That content then automatically 'disappears' after 24 hours, although sometimes followers would screenshot what they saw, and send it on via other messaging apps.
"I remember a couple of pictures of me and my friends were posted," Lily said.
Pictured: A Jersey student, who says cyberbullying once drove her to contemplate suicide, has shared her "mortifying" experience of harmful social media groups.
"It is very much cyberbullying. It's hard because you don't know who made the accounts. I would see people that I knew tagged in them all the time. Especially with it being Jersey, everyone would know who each story was.
"As an autistic girl, who struggles with social settings, I really struggled with it – especially because, being Jersey, everyone saw it."
Another common account would be a variation of the name 'Jersey Scraps' – where photos and videos of local schoolchildren fighting and, in some cases, being assaulted, would be shared.
Police were so concerned about the "violence-related" imagery that an investigation was launched in 2019 to identify those involved in the fights and assaults, as well as those responsible for videoing, circulating and uploading the films.
Schools and parents were urgently contacted to help with the probe.
While the clampdown on such accounts – which were also created on Instagram – led to the number dying down, 'Jersey Mugs' has continued to thrive, and a more concerning spin-off.
Some explicit photographs of local young people began circulating on a group called 'Jersey Nudes'.
Lily was a victim of both types of account, and said the experience caused significant harm to her mental health – so significant, that she attempted suicide.
"My bad pictures were posted and even some of my nude pictures that I had sent to a boyfriend at the time," she explained.
"I remember seeing it and being absolutely mortified."
Her feelings of shame and worry escalated, as more and more of her peers saw the images and forwarded them on.
"People would send me them and to be honest, it sent me into a spiral of depression when I was in Year 8 when I tried taking my own life and ended up in hospital."
What many children and young people may not realise is that possessing and circulating indecent photographs of others under 16 is a crime – even if a teen were to have in their possession a photo of a naked or semi-naked image of under-16 boyfriend or girlfriend, they would technically be in possession of an indecent image of a child, which is an offence under Jersey law.
Beyond falling foul of the law themselves, children are also at risk of becoming victims of grooming and sexual exploitation.
Guernsey Police are currently investigating a Snapchat group with more than 50 local children – some as young as seven, despite the social media app having an age restriction of 13.
Pictured: Authorities in Guernsey have warned about a Snapchat group that has attracted more than 50 local children who are as young as seven.
"The group is believed to be sharing language with strong sexual or violent language and sexual images and may also be encouraging children to share indecent images of themselves," officers said in late January.
Little more than a week later, the Guernsey force reported that it was investigating a young adult who was believed to have been contacting young females aged between 11 and 15 on Snapchat and asking to exchange money for sexual favours. Doing so "constitutes an offence of grooming", officers said.
Jersey's own police force commented: "Unfortunately, Snapchat and other apps like this are used in this way and we are aware of groups that are being set up or have been set up and since removed.
"It's very difficult to enforce and in some cases, although understandably distressing, there may be no criminal offences taking place. If we can identify a victim, we will seek to ensure their welfare and if offences are identified, we'll look to take the necessary action."
Now in her second year of college, Lily has tried to put her distressing experiences on the platform behind her.
But those memories came flooding back as she noticed a recent flurry of social media activity from parents concerned about accounts of exactly the same names as those she herself had been a victim of.
"Jersey Mugs... Can anyone enlighten me or if there is a way this can be stopped? Apparently, it's a horrible group on Snapchat where kids post unflattering pictures of other children to humiliate them, it's just horrible and so unkind and just another form of bullying and should not be allowed," one islander wrote on Facebook.
Pictured: Islanders have sounded the alarm about harmful Snapchat accounts on Facebook community groups.
Express was able to find several accounts under the name 'Jersey Mugs', as well as 'Jersey Rumours', where sometimes malicious gossip and rumours about named individuals are shared.
"It does worry me that [these groups] are still around," Lily said.
"At the time, it did feel like the end of the world and everyone I knew hated me. This could be the tip of the iceberg for kids going through a lot.
"I can't imagine how helpless and upset parents must feel about it as well."
Snapchat described the reports of how Snapchat was being misused in Jersey as "horrific" when contacted by Express.
Pictured: There are many Snapchat accounts under the name 'Jersey Mugs'.
A spokesperson said: "There is no place for harmful content on Snapchat. If we find sexual or harmful content – either through our proactive detection technology or reporting – we remove it immediately, terminate the offending account and work with police to support their investigations."
The technology appears to be improving over time – in the second half of 2022, Snapchat proactively detected and actioned 94% of the total child sexual exploitation and violations reported. This was a rise from the previous year when it stood at 88%.
Snapchat added: "We also have extra protections in place for younger users, confidential in-app reporting tools so our community can tell us if they see inappropriate content and Family Centre, which allows parents to see who their teens are talking to on Snapchat and have more conversations about how to be safe online."
A recent update to the in-app reporting tool includes a dedicated category for Snapchatters to report someone threatening to leak sexual content of them like nudes pictures.
Other protections include pop-up warnings for teens when they are contacted by someone they don't share a mutual friend with, not allowing under-18s to have public profiles or friend lists, and requiring teen Snapchatters to have a larger number of friends in common in common in order for them to be suggested to another user in Quick Add or Search – making it more difficult for strangers to find them.
However, these do not necessarily help when the problems are peer-to-peer, with groups like 'Jersey Mugs' followed by large numbers of local youngsters.
The NSPCC wants Snapchat to go further and find a way to stop new offending groups from replacing those that have been closed.
Speaking to Express, Katherine McGovern, NSPCC Jersey Partnerships Service Manager, explained: "Incidents like this show that platforms like Snapchat need to do much more to show that they are making children's safety a priority.
"Groups like those mentioned go against Snapchat's own terms and conditions, highlighting once again how tech companies are currently failing to ensure that their own guidelines are being followed and enforced.
"It is imperative that tech companies like Snapchat are responsible and accountable and build platforms which are designed with children's safety at the forefront. They also have a responsibility to monitor their own platforms to ensure that harmful material cannot be accessed or shared.
"Tech companies should be doing more to prevent harmful content being accessible on their platforms rather than relying on users to report it and then removing it afterwards. They also need to stop new groups from being created once offending ones are reported and shut down."
Lily thinks part of the solution lies in better education, school sanctions and support for victims – after all, cyberbullying is no less serious than bullying in any other form.
"The whole issue is surrounding kids thinking it is funny to do things like this and not fully understanding how bullying makes people and families feel," she said.
"I think schools need to take bullying a lot more seriously, as I feel like still to this day it gets swept under the rug a lot.
"I think assemblies should maybe be held, addressing anonymous groups like this and give support to people have been affected.
"I think more education is needed, and firmer consequences and punishments should be put into place."
When asked if she could remember any action being taken during her time at school, Lily said: "Nope. I just remember them telling us to report it."
Asked by Express how cyberbullying is currently being addressed by local schools, the Government responded: "Cyberbullying is taken very seriously. All schools have counter bullying policies in place. Guidance and support is available to any young person who needs it, through the Youth Enquiry Service."
The Jersey Office of the Information Commissioner is helping to plug knowledge gaps, particularly among young people.
Pictured: Parents are encouraged to have open dialogue with their children about online content to help keep them safe.
Stephanie MacNeill, Compliance and Enforcement Manager at the Jersey Data Protection Authority, said: "We encourage the Jersey community, especially in today's tech-driven world, to think about their privacy, instinctively.
"Therefore whether in public or online, taking control of their personal information and remembering actions we take now, could cause long-term distress or prejudice in future, impacting our wellbeing, relationships and even career opportunities."
To this end, they have a Young Privacy Ambassador Programme, which involves working "closely with island primary and secondary schools and youth services, to educate young people about the importance of taking control, securing their privacy settings and ensuring they do not share content that could be manipulated or they may regret".
Parents have a key role to play too.
Pictured: Parents have expressed concern about the social media platform Snapchat.
The States of Jersey Police said: "Our advice would be to always report the page to the app itself, remove the user/page from your child's app, or remove the app from the device.
"Use the parental controls available to you and the privacy controls, restricting who can add your child or see them.
"Follow the age restrictions on these apps and don't allow younger children to use them. When you sign your child up for an app, always use their correct date of birth.
"And finally, have conversations with your child about what they should do if they receive unwanted content or see something concerning to them."
The Jersey Police, Office of the Information Commissioner, and NSPCC have issued the following advice for parents, emphasising the importance of parental controls, open dialogue with children, and vigilant monitoring of online activity to combat cyberbullying effectively.
1. Utilise parental controls to safeguard your child's online experience, ensuring they cannot be added to groups without consent and adjusting privacy settings to control who can interact with them.
2. Ensure compliance with age restrictions by removing children under 13 from platforms like Snapchat, and use accurate birthdates during registration.
3. Engage in open and ongoing conversations with your child about recognising and responding to unwanted or concerning content online, emphasising the importance of not sharing potentially regrettable content.
4. Implement regular monitoring of your child's online activity, considering the use of paid monitoring services like Bark (bark.us) to provide additional support for families.
5. Report any harmful content encountered on social media platforms to the respective app's reporting system via www.reportharmfulcontent.com.
6. Take screenshots of harmful content as evidence and report incidents to local authorities, including the Police and the Jersey Office of the Information Commissioner.
Snapchat also has resources available for parents to help them understand more about the app, how teens are using it and the tools and resources available to them.
This includes the Family Centre tool for parents to monitor their teens' activity discreetly, report concerning accounts, and set content controls.
To report a concern about handling of personal information, islanders of any age can call the OIC on 01534 716530 or email enquiries@jerseyoic.org.
The NSPCC’s Helpline is available for parents or carers seeking advice or help by calling 0808 800 5000 or by email help@nspcc.org.uk."
Anyone who feels they are in immediate danger should contact the States of Jersey Police.
*Name changed to protect identity.
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