Drugged by Someone You Trust: Netherlands Hit by Secret Chatgroups Sharing Rape Tips and Videos
Dutch police have arrested four men in a major investigation into the sexual abuse of women who were allegedly drugged and then raped by people they knew, with videos of the assaults shared in closed social-media groups.
Authorities have not said which specific groups were involved, but the case has drawn comparisons to the French rape case involving Gisèle Pelicot. In that case, Pelicot was drugged for years by her husband and raped more than 200 times by him and other men—around 70 suspects in total.
According to reports about the Pelicot case, her husband contacted men through the dating site Coco, using a chat group called “Zonder haar medeweten” (“Without her knowledge”). The case exposed a dark side of online spaces: even when platforms are taken offline, the behavior often continues elsewhere.
Earlier this year, CNN reported finding Telegram groups where men shared practical advice on how to drug partners or family members and how to avoid being caught, alongside images and videos of abuse. CNN also found that porn site Motherless hosted more than 20,000 videos labeled as “slaapcontent” (“sleep content”), and that similar communities operated there as well—sometimes even selling drugs intended for spiking victims.
Michelle Rasch, a data analyst specializing in online crime and violence against women at DataExpert, told NU.nl that these groups actively coach and encourage members. She said men exchange details such as what substances to use, what dosages to take, and how to prevent interruptions, while pushing each other to go through with abuse they might otherwise hesitate to commit.
Rasch said group dynamics can erode norms and values, especially when users spend a lot of time in spaces where harmful behavior is met with approval or silence. Without negative feedback, members reinforce each other’s attitudes and find it easier to justify their actions to themselves.
The Openbaar Ministerie (OM, Public Prosecution Service) took Motherless offline in early May, but the site returned online last week. NRC reported that illegal material quickly appeared again, including AI-generated images of child sexual abuse; the OM said it has opened an investigation into perpetrators linked to specific images found on Motherless.
Coco has also resurfaced under a new name, and prosecutors in Paris are investigating how it reappeared. Rasch said simply taking a site offline is not a complete solution, arguing that prevention also requires helping victims get images removed, targeting high-risk communities through focused investigations and interventions, and—most importantly—working toward broader cultural change.
Rasch linked the violence to a worldview that treats women as inferior, saying that as long as that mindset exists it remains a breeding ground for more extreme abuse. She said change can be driven through education, media, and clearer rules and enforcement, including confronting everyday sexism such as catcalling and misogynistic harassment—behaviors often described as the lower layers in the “piramide van geweld” (“pyramid of violence”) that can lead to more serious forms of gender-based violence.