'Virtual Rape Prey': Facebook Closes Group Where Photos of Women Were Shared Without Their Knowledge

Snaps snatched from the privacy of their homes, stolen during a lazy afternoon at the beach, or surreptitiously taken in the aisles of a supermarket. Meta deleted a Facebook group called "Mia Moglie❤❤❤" - "My wife" in Italian - on Wednesday, August 20. Its 32,000 members exchanged photos of their partners, most often taken without their knowledge and sometimes revealing them naked, as reported by Corriere della Sera .

Mark Zuckerberg's firm took action following the alert from Italian feminist activist Carolina Capria. On Instagram on Tuesday, she denounced the existence of this community, which trades images of "women often unaware of being photographed to become the prey of virtual rape." The author also expressed her "fear and nausea" at the comments of some of the group's users. Online, her disgust snowballed.

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Her voice was joined by those of NGOs, such as "No Justice No Peace." Or even those of a section of the political class. "We find the existence of these misogynistic conversations disconcerting and unacceptable, because they reflect a culture of possession and oppression that ignores women's consent," stressed representatives of the Italian Democratic Party during a parliamentary commission on Femicide and Violence reported by the Sky channel TG24 . As a result, outraged reports piled up and Meta gave in.

"We prohibit any content that threatens or encourages sexual violence, sexual abuse, or sexual exploitation on our platforms. If we become aware of content that incites or advocates rape, we may disable groups and accounts that publish it and forward this information to law enforcement," a spokesperson for the company that heads Facebook told Corriere della Sera .

"Mia Moglie❤❤❤" was created in 2019 by a now-unsubscribed Facebook user. This public group, which remained inactive for a long time, reportedly gained momentum starting in May 2025, notably through anonymous contributions.

Since its closure, victims have spoken out. Some have shared their pain on the Facebook page " Alpha Mom ": "Today I discovered that I am in the group 'Mia Moglie'," wrote one of them. "He justified himself by saying it's just a game ... We have two sons and ten years of marriage behind us." Others have filed complaints. Many are still unaware that they are among the women affected.

Although it brings together an impressive number of participants, "Mia Moglie" represents only the tip of the iceberg. Online, many other similar communities - sometimes with similar names - still exist. Both on Facebook and on Telegram. The messaging service has also responded to this issue with France Info: "The sharing of explicit content without consent is strictly prohibited by Telegram's rules of use and this content is deleted as soon as it is discovered." Every day, it claims to delete "millions of harmful content items," particularly those of a sexual nature.