A documentary film made in 2020 by Czech directors Vit Klausak and Barbora Chalupova addressed sexual predators on the internet. The documentary is about three actresses pretending to be underage, each with elaborate social media profiles filmed in a custom-built room full of toys and different backgrounds. The movie shows their experience on social media and being contacted by online sexual predators. These fake underage profiles attracted thousands of online predators most of them seeking sexual satisfaction. In the end, they set a personal meeting with the predators which are held under extreme safety with hidden bodyguards and cameras.
In September 2020 a well-known and reliable online newspaper called IDNES had uploaded an article written by Karolína Novotná and ČTK addressing the predators filmed in the documentary. One of the sexual predators appearing under the nickname Snikey was accused and is now facing twelve years in jail. Snikey threatened actress Tereza Težká who was pretending to be a 12-year-old girl. He was implying that he will rape her while sending zoophilic porn and threaten that if she would not do as he pleased he will publish her naked photos on social media. He claimed to know where Tereza lives and threatened her to sell her pornographic pictures online. Last November the police began an investigation and the only thing that is keeping them from sending Snikey to jail is the fact that the actress was in fact an adult.
Other men that appeared in the documentary were previously punished by suspended sentences. One of them was given a three-year condition for illegal contact with a child. The second one was so far sentenced illegally to fourteen months in prison with a probationary period of three years (Novotná, ČTK, 2020).
Another authoritative newspaper called Variety has uploaded an article written by Will Tizard regarding the documentary. They shared that during the film-making of Caught In the Net a team from the Czech police cyber crimes unit shared shocking statistics. In the Czech Republic, as many as 9,000 sexual offenses are committed electronically every year, only a small fraction are registered and cases are up 90%-100% annually; meanwhile, every sixth child in the country has exchanged "intimate photos online (Tizard, 2019).
This case shows how online predators are dangerous considering the age of the children they target. The actresses, later on, sought the help of psychologists and were terrified during the filmmaking. Just imagine what impact it has on the underage children when they have to face online predators like these alone.
Information retrieved from:
Novotná, K. (2020, September 12). Predátora Sneaky z filmu V síti obžalovali, hrozí mu 12 let vězení. Retrieved November 26, 2020, from https://www.idnes.cz/zpravy/domaci/film-v-siti-obzaloba-sexualni-predator-sneeky.A200912_135225_domaci_knn
Tizard, W. (2019, October 26). 'Caught in the Net' Directors on How They Trapped Sexual Predators. Retrieved November 26, 2020, from https://variety.com/2019/film/festivals/caught-in-the-net-ji-hlava-1203384625/
Trailer for the documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89fnOj-wLSU
Picture retrieved from https://cineuropa.org/newsdetail/373499/
Hi Zuzana,
Thank you for talking about a topic that is incredibly important and not so easy to talk about. It is hard to imagine that people like this are actually out there and it is incredibly important to talk about this issue and to be aware of this issue. Even though I have not seen the documentary I have hear a lot of positive feedback about the movie and I plan on watching it in the near future.
Hello Zuzana!
Thanks for sharing your opinion and the current answers from the publishers on the whole documentary about online predators. By seeing this documentary I was terrified how far those action could go. I am really glad that someone make a documentary about this since you have written that most of the sexual offences happened on the internet, which was new to me and thanks for this information! Also, I did not know that those online predators portrayed in the documentary were bring in front of the law and suited for those commitments. At least, police made some steps and found those predators, which could help to prevent from those actions. Moreover, your statistics are shocking and really bring…