Pictures of at least 40 Irish girls, mainly from Cork and as young as 14, have been copied from social media and posted on a pornographic website without their consent.
While the pictures are not pornographic in their original form, when posted on the international website by a person under the pseudonym Irish Exposed, they are often modified into explicit situations.
A huge number, even those unmodified, have vile and graphic comments posted on them.
Katie, now 19, found out in the last few days pictures from the last five years have been copied from her Facebook page — including photos of her in her school uniform when aged 15. They have been viewed 1m times.
In an interview to be aired on The Neil Prendeville Show on Red FM today from 9am, she says that they are mainly images simply showing her face.
Nonetheless one person has commented: “I love girls like this. They look so young and probably aren’t even 18.”
“Essentially, the younger I look the more views, the more comments,” she said. “As I get older in the photos, the less views, the less comments.”
She said some of the comments on her photographs contain rape threats against her. Many of the comments have been posted locally.
“Most of the girls are literally 13 to 15 years old,” she said.
Katie and other girls she has contacted in recent days, believe they have pinpointed who has taken the images from their pages — an apparently fake profile she accepted a “friend request” from when she was younger — though she did not know the person.
Gardaí are understood to have been informed.