RADIO CURRENT AFFAIRS Hurtcore, Episode 3 Mænd der ødelægger kvinder This documentary contains very explicit descriptions of extortion of a sexual nature. One evening, a young man arrives at DR carrying with him a dark secret. A secret he has never told anyone before. The secret weighs heavily on his conscience. Kasper, as we’ll call him, is drawn to online forums featuring thousands of photos and videos of young women who, amongst other things, have had their phones hacked, resulting in the sharing of their intimate photos and videos. In his search for new pictures and videos, Kasper involuntarily becomes aware of a new phenomenon called ‘Hurtcore’. Young women including girls as young as 13, and from a variety of Western countries, are being blackmailed online. They are being forced to humiliate and harm themselves, whilst filming it for international perpetrators. In many cases the extortion has been going on for years. The perpetrators sell the extorted material in secret online groups, and it is here, where Kasper discovers its existence. The first extortion video Kasper involuntarily watches is so horrifying that he unplugs his computer and flees to the bathroom where he throws up. What he has just seen is far beyond what his conscience can bear. Therefore, he decides to act and starts collecting every extortion material he can find in the secret online groups, fearing that he himself will end up in jail. So instead of contacting the police he meets with two investigative journalist. This meeting will be the start of a chase for who is behind the extortion racket, how the material is repeatedly sold and shared, and how child pornography ends up being freely available on the Internet. Through extensive online research, insight into sales catalogues, price lists and interviews with several of the blackmailed women, DR reveals that at least 145 young women and even girls as young as 13, have been blackmailed to humiliate and harm themselves. In the documentary we hear from two of them. The girls were forced to harm themselves, suffocate themselves, eat their own faeces, and in one case, a girl was blackmailed into sexually assaulting her 13-year old brother. In the documentary we meet Emma from Northern England, who tells her story for the first time. She was blackmailed for months, until the perpetrator threatened to involve her own child. Today, she is still marked by the experience. Fearing that people might have seen the videos, she often barricades herself at home. 03 DENMARK RADIO CURRENT AFFAIRS Hurtcore, Episode 3 Mænd der ødelægger kvinder The journalists reveal a secret male-dominated world, where there’s a desire to see girls and young women being humiliated and destroyed. Listeners are taken to secret online forums, where users share and write to one another about the material. The blackmailers are hailed as gods and heroes by the other users. The journalists uncover how, among other things, the hurtcore material is heavily shared on the international forum, 4chan. With its millions of users, it is known for both the sharing of child pornography, and for hosting right-wing movements such as the misogynistic incel environment, where men encourage the humiliation of girls and women. The programme also shows how perpetrators attempt to spread a political message. For example, some of the girls are forced to write in lipstick, “fuck feminism” on their naked bodies. In the documentary, the two journalists follow closely, the sharing of hurtcore material, mapping out where it’s been spread. They document how the material is not only shared in the internet’s darker recesses, but that it has also been seen by millions on the world’s largest porn websites and that the material is on Googles servers. During the investigation the two journalists identify one of the perpetrators. According to the police they have never seen such a vicious and devious extortion material before. The findings enable an international cooperation between polices forces ultimately resulting in the arrest of the perpetrator in Mexico. Submitting organisation: Danmarks Radio - DR (Danish Broadcasting Corporation) Contact: Jens Vithner Hansen – [email protected] Author: Maiken Frederiksen, Frederik Hugo Ledegaard, Christian Stemann Director: Jens Vithner Hansen Sound: Signe Mansdotter Commissioning editor: Hanne Barslund Producer: Christian Stemann Title of Series: Hurtcore Episode: 3 : 6 Length: 28 min Original language: Danish First broadcast by: DR Date of first broadcast: 19 January 2020, 06:00 Competing for: Best European Radio Investigation of the Year 03 DENMARK .