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Transcript/Script((PLAYBOOK SLUG: KENYA SEXTORTION (TVR)
HEADLINE: Victims of Online Sextortion in Kenya Describe Ordeal
TEASER: Kenyan women blackmailed and humiliated online as intimate photos circulate on Telegram
PUBLISHED:11/2/23, 3:32p
BYLINE: Francis Ontomwa
DATELINE: Nairobi, Kenya
VIDEOGRAPHER: Amos Wangwa
SCRIPT EDITORS: Reifenrath, MAS, DJ (ok)
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA Original
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO _X_
TRT: 3:26
VID APPROVED BY: Reifenrath
TYPE: TVPKG
EDITOR NOTES:
PRODUCTION: PLEASE MAKE SURE FACES OF VICTIMS ARE BLURRED))
[[((INTRO))
[[Kenyan women and girls are facing a form of online blackmail called sextortion. This occurs when perpetrators threaten to share nude or sexual images or videos of the victim with her friends or family members unless she pays them, sends the criminals more content, or gives in to other demands. In the following report, Francis Ontomwa talks to some victims about their ordeal.]]
((NARRATOR))
((Nats))
Discovering that the person she thought she could trust
had betrayed her by sharing her intimate photos online was devastating for Jamila, not her real name.
Her former partner had amassed enough explicit images of her to destroy her reputation — private images … secretly taken during a video call.
(('Jamila', Sextortion Victim (female, Swahili))
“He kept pestering me every day to part with 300 dollars. I was financially down and couldn’t raise that amount. At this point, I didn’t have a choice but to comply. I requested that he meet with me, and I handed him 200 dollars, which I had borrowed from friends. Still, he was not satisfied.”
[[For radio: She says her former partner kept pestering her every day to part with 300 dollars, and she couldn't raise that amount. At that point she didn't have a choice but to comply. She requested that he meet with her, and she handed him 200 dollars, which she had borrowed from friends. Still, she says, he was not satisfied.]]
((NARRATOR))
Despite Jamila’s attempt to appease her former partner, she says he still posted the pictures on Telegram, a popular messaging app.
((NARRATOR))
Mariana also chose not to provide her real name.
She says she refused to give into threats by her former partner to release nude photos of her unless Mariana allowed him to sexually abuse her underage niece, who lived in the same house.
(('Mariana', Sextortion Victim (female, Swahili language)))
“I told him that was not going to be possible. This was like my own daughter. He told me, 'If you do not heed my call, I have all your intimate pictures. I will post you and let everyone know that you sell your body.' This disturbed me so much that I was hospitalized with high blood pressure.”
[[Radio: Mariana told him she could not comply with his demand. Her niece was like her own daughter. She said he told her, 'If you do not heed my call, I have all your intimate pictures. I will post you and let everyone know that you sell your body.' She says this disturbed her so much that she was hospitalized with high blood pressure.]]
Eventually - like Jamila - Mariana found pictures of herself circulating across multiple Telegram chat groups.
((NARRATOR))
Telegram’s terms of service asks users to agree “not to post illegal pornographic content on publicly viewable Telegram channels and bots.”
But still, users put the platform’s content moderation systems to the test.
((Mariana, Sextortion Victim (female, Swahili)))
“If I had a chance to meet the owners of these platforms, I would tell them immediately that the pictures get on their platform, and that it is good for them to just do away with them”
[[radio: Mariana says that if she could meet the platform owners, she would tell them that the pictures are on their platorms, and that it would be good for them to just do away with them.]]
((NARRATOR))
We reached out to Telegram via its support page for comment, but our request went unanswered.
Oscar Okwero, a cyber and data security analyst in Nairobi, encounters such cases almost daily.
((Oscar Okwero, Cyber and Data Security Consultant (male, in English)
“It's important that users know the risks that they expose themselves to, one, creating this sort of information, taking these pictures and keeping on their phone. It's a big risk because at some point,
there is always the risk that your social media account or your phone can be compromised, and woe unto you if that happens, I would compare it to, say, keeping a jerrican of petrol in a house where you have children. The risk is too high.”
((NARRATOR))
There is no official data on the number of online sextortion schemes in Kenya today. Last year, Kenya adopted a National Cyber Security Strategy to tackle emerging threats in the cyber domain.
Meanwhile, Jamila delivered this warning.
[[radio: She says she would tell young girls, Don't be quick to share your intimate pictures. You need to be very careful with whoever you are communicating with online.]]
((Jamila, Sextortion Victim (Swahili)) (DF9B0603 05:36 to 05:50)
“What I would tell young girls is don’t be quick to share your intimate pictures. You need to be very careful with whoever you are communicating with online”
((NARRATOR))
((Nats))
As for these women, it will take time to rebuild their lives after their ordeals.
(Francis Ontomwa, VOA News, Nairobi, Kenya.)
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
