LIBERTY LEGAL JOURNAL Spring/Summer 2016 | Page 25

photos of minors from being posted on the Internet. For example, Facebook has the capability to prevent users from sharing
particular types of content or using certain features.12
The Bible commands that we should not pervert justice, that we
should not show partiality to the poor or to the great.13 This biblical principle—that people, whether strong or weak, should be
treated equally under the law—is the foundation of the American

See, e.g., VA. CODE. ANN. § 18.2-374.1(A) (“‘child pornography’ means sexually explicit visual material which utilizes or has as a subject an identifiable minor.”).
1

VA. CODE. ANN. § 18.2-374.1:1.

2

Lorenzo Ferrigno, Newtown High School students charged in ‘sexting’ ring, CNN (Jan. 27,
2016, 7:18 PM), http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/27/us/connecticut-high-school-sextingring/.
3

legal system. The concept is so fundamental, it was codified in
the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.14
That same principal should be applied to sexting. If a minor, the
‘weak’ among our society, can be punished for possessing explicit
photos, then a corporation, arguably the ‘strong’ part of society,
should face consequences for both possessing and facilitating the
distribution of those same explicit photos.

Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48, 72 (2010).

8

Id.

9

Privacy Policy, SNAPCHAT, (Oct. 28, 2015), https://www.snapchat.com/privacy; Alyson
Shontell, Actually, Snapchat Doesn’t Delete Your Private Pictures And Someone Found A Way
to Resurface them, BUSINESS INSIDER (May 9, 2013, 11:48 AM),
http://www.businessinsider.com/snapchat-doesnt-delete-your-private-pictures-2013-5.
10

Virginia State Crime Commission, Sexting (2014).

11

Ferrigno, supra note 3.

12

4
5

Hanna Rosin, Why Kids Sext, THE ATLANTIC (Nov. 2009), http://www.theatlantic.
com/magazine/archive/2014/11/why-kids-sext/380798/.
6

See, e.g., Reporting Guide, FACEBOOK, https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/t39.2178-6/851563_293317947467769_1320502878_n.png (last accessed Feb.
8, 2016).
7

Black’s Law Dictionary (10th ed. 2014).

What Happens After You Click “Report”, FACEBOOK (June 19, 2012, 11:05 AM),
https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-safety/what-happens-after-you-click-report/432670926753695/.
Leviticus 19:15 (NIV).

13

U.S. CONST. amend. XIV.

14

SPRING/SUMMER 2016 | LIBERTY LEGAL JOURNAL | page 25