Finnish court fines man for possessing child sexual abuse material despite claim of vigilante intent

A district court in Finland has convicted a 27-year-old man of possessing child sexual abuse material, rejecting his claim that he was investigating a suspected offender as part of an international anti-abuse group. The ruling was issued by Päijät-Häme District Court on May 5, 2026, Yle reports.

The man was found to have stored one image and 70 videos depicting minors under 18 in sexually explicit situations on his phone. He argued that the files had been sent to him unsolicited by a suspect he was monitoring via the Kik messaging app. According to his testimony, he immediately forwarded the material to a secure application and reported the sender’s account to both the app’s administrators and police without opening the files.

The court ruled that the man “should have at least considered it probable” that the material was illegal, given its origin and the suspect nature of the sender—a person he himself believed to be distributing child sexual abuse content. Judges noted that most files were stored in a folder with a name suggesting an intent to conceal them, and some had been copied to a second location.

While the material was primarily classified as “basic” under Finnish legal definitions, a small number of videos depicted very young children, meeting the threshold for aggravated offenses. The man was fined 80 day-fines, totaling €720 based on his income. The verdict is not yet final and may be appealed.

The incidents occurred in Lahti in early 2025. The man claimed his actions were part of efforts by an international group targeting child exploitation and drug-related crimes, but the court found his possession of the material unlawful regardless of intent.