BOSTON, MA (WBZ-AM) -- A child pornography video is being circulated on Facebook by users asked to share it so the perpetrators can be identified.
Massachusetts State Police are joining the investigation after a woman went to the Blue Hills barracks over the weekend when the video was transmitted to her through Facebook messenger.
The shocking video comes with an appeal: help circulate it online, so that the adult male sexually abusing a child on camera can be identified and brought to justice.
But Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey says sharing videos like that does far more harm than good and is urging anyone who comes across it to just delete it.
"You're really potentially re-victimizing the victim, we've seen case in the past where young kids who may have been victims of child pornography 10, 12-years ago are still out on the world wide web," Morrissey said.
Furthermore, circulating child pornography can lead to charges, regardless of the intentions behind sharing. The thing to do, Morrissey says, is notify authorities, and then delete the video.
The only people you should ever share illegal content that comes across your social media feed is law enforcement. And in the case of this video, according to Morrissey, investigators are already on the case nationwide.
"They believe they know where it started in this country -- down in the southern part of the United States," Morrissey said. " So they are actively working on it but we just asking people not to share that it's not appropriate and it can really hurt the victim," he said.
The more the pornography is shared. The more likely it is to stay out there in cyberspace long after a child's initial victimization. And sharing illegal content is illegal -- no matter what your intentions.
WBZ NewsRadio1030's Kendall Buhl reports.