Social media allows people to connect to others, even when they're halfway across the globe. But unfortunately, some people can take advantage of it, by turning it into a medium in which they can share things that aren't supposed to happen.
And in Sweden, three young men have been suspected for gang raping a woman and live-streaming the whole thing on Facebook.
The horrifying incident was shared in a closed Facebook Group that has around 60,000 members.
It was Josefine Lundgren who was one of the first to call the authorities, who said that one of the attackers, which was apparently a repeat offender, "tore the clothes off" his victim before raping her.
She also claimed that one of the attackers also “had apparently filmed everything and took pictures that he put on (messaging site) Snapchat."
Read: A 17-Year-Old Girl Was Raped Live On Periscope, While The Broadcaster Giggles
In the livestream, it is shown how a woman is raped on a bed, repeatedly by the two of the three culprits, until she was clearly exhausted and was "close to unconscious."
The three attackers documented everything in the livestream, while making it seem that it was a joke.
They were all seen laughing while violating and abusing the 30-year-old woman, including penetrating her from behind.
The rapists in the video laughed as they threatened and mocked the woman, and on the comments some viewers laughed with them.
"Du blev våldtagen. Där fick vi svaret!" ("You have been raped!") said one of the rapists, laughing, towards the end of the broadcast.
One of the attackers was seen holding a revolver.
But what makes it more disturbing is that, the assault was livestreamed for a whole three hours on Facebook.
And the worse part is that, the 40 people who saw the livestream did nothing about it. Only comments poured in while the rape was going on.
Some of the comments told them to stop, but none contacted the police.
Lundgren thought that everything was a "poorly-orchestrated joke," until realizing that it wasn't. It was her who called the authorities is that very moment.
According to the local media, the police was alerted at 8.24am.
Considering that the rapists are caught on video, it's easy for the police to catch them.
Sooner than later, the suspects, aged 18, 20 and 24, were arrested in an apartment in Uppsala, around 70 kilometers north of Stockholm.
It was later realized that the woman was attending a party in Uppsala that night, and that she went with some men from the Middle East. But that night after the party, she came home drunk and passed out.
In a follow up video, Emil Khodagholi, one of the men argued about the fuss, and said that he didn't have sex with her because he accused her for having Hepatitis C.
"You got raped. There, we have the answers. You’ve been raped," he shouted gleefully at her.
This second video was ended when the police arrived to the location.
The first footage has been removed from Facebook, but netizens were quicker because some managed to download it and shared them elsewhere on the web.
With the three detained, the police urged social media users to turn over the footage, hoping to curb the spread.
"We have some picture and video material. But we don’t have any images showing the attack itself," said Uppsala deputy chief prosecutor Magnus Berggren.
Responding to the incident, a spokesperson for Facebook in the Nordic countries denounced it as “a hideous crime”.
“Our teams work around the clock to review content that is being reported by users” and Facebook cooperates systematically with police in criminal investigations, the spokesperson said.
On its website, Facebook has made it clear, that it will "remove content, disable accounts, and work with law enforcement when we believe there is a genuine risk of physical harm or direct threats to public safety."
Months later, the lawyer for a migrant who filmed the rape claimed that his client was not aware his actions were rape.
Andreas Welin, the lawyer for Emil Khodagholi who was convicted earlier this year of defamation for filming the rape, made the claim in an effort to have his client’s six-month sentence overturned.
Welin said that the case can raise "several questions about what actually constitutes an offence, which criteria must be considered to obligate someone to reveal rape," and that may take the case to the Swedish supreme court if he has to.
He added that his client did not understand at the time that the actions of the other two men, 21-year old Reza Mohammed Ahmadi and 18-year-old Maysam Afshar, were considered a rape.
The lawyer also argued that Khodagholi suffers from a mental handicap which could have impaired his ability to properly judge the situation.
All three denied committing any crime. Both Ahmadi and Afshar admitted having sex with the woman but said it was consensual.
Khodagholi argued he was not the only one to film the events, and claimed that he was unaware the victim did not want the images to be public.
Prosecutors said the woman was "heavily drunk" and "under the influence of drugs," and that it was impossible for her to say whether she is aware of whatever happened.
"It's not possible for a person in such a situation to consent," said the judge.
It's worth noting that after the arrest, another woman came forward, telling a Swedish media that she had also been a victim of sexual assault perpetrated by one of the three men who she recognized in the video.
The 21-year-old Swedish woman said that she had been raped 15 months before the livestream incident while taking a shower in her apartment.
In the end, Khodagholi, an Iranian migrant who has been granted Swedish citizenship, was sentenced to six months in prison for aggravated defamation for posting the rape on Facebook, and for failing to report it.
As for Reza Mohammed Ahmadi, he was sentenced to two years and four months in prison for rape and accessory to rape, while Maysam Afshar was sentenced to one year in prison for rape, a reduced sentence because of his age.
Both of the latter are Afghan citizens who have been granted residency in Sweden, and were at the time asylum seekers.
The prosecutor in the case decided not to pursue deportation in the case of the two asylum seekers, since both had come to Sweden as unaccompanied minors.
Defense lawyer Stefan Wallin claimed such actions would have violated the Swedish Aliens Act.
The three men were also ordered to pay damages totaling 335,000 kronor ($38,000, 34,850 euros) to the victim.
It's worth noting, that Khodagholi was previously arrested in 2012 for assaulting a 16-year-old with an iron bar.
Facebook allows users to go live, by broadcasting a video directly from their device. But unlike TV broadcasters that are subject to regulations, internet streaming services do not face the same restrictions and enforce their own terms of service.
Social media is actually a tool that can be used for the good of humanity.
The thing is, it also reveals the terrifying truth about the society, in which many people actually enjoy voyeurism of violence.
What's more, social media is also making it harder for authorities and institutions themselves to safeguard people from ever seeing that kind of content.
Making things worse, there is little the authorities can do, since there is nothing that can be done to counter those who watch and 'enjoy' these horrific videos as it isn't illegal to watch them or to not report it to the police.
With the internet, people are given the tool to easily see those content, making the society increasingly getting desensitized towards all acts of aggression. Violence and privacy violations are streamed, making people less empathic to anyone's pain anymore.
To the viewers, victims are considered objects. Viewers simply live in a delusional fantasy that they think they can get away with
Simply out, the broadcast of such graphic video brings into focus the complex ethical and policy issues faced by social media platforms.
