YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Youngstown police are urging community members to not share a viral Facebook video of a child performing a sex act on an adult, even if it is done to help seek justice. 

Lieutenant Brian Flynn tells 21 News that although their department received nearly half a dozen reports of the viral video here locally, they have no reason to believe that the video originated here. 

Lt. Flynn says that they will continue to look into it to try to figure out where the file did originate from, but that process will take a while. 

If you receive a message or email containing child pornography, police recommend immediately deleting it. Do not download or share it, even if you are doing so with good intentions. 

It is best to alert police or contact the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force at (440) 886-5284.

Facebook, on the other hand, has their own way of investigating and stopping the spread child pornography. 

In a statement to 21 News, a spokesperson said "We are aware of this issue. We reported the video to the appropriate authorities, and we have used PhotoDNA technology to automatically prevent future uploads and shares. Sharing any kind of child exploitative imagery using Facebook or Messenger is not acceptable - even to express outrage. We are and will continue to be aggressive in preventing and removing such content from our community.”

According to the company,  every image that is uploaded to the site is scanned using PhotoDNA technology and has been since 2011. 

A spokesperson said when an image is found to be of child exploitation images, the content is immediately deleted, the account is taken down, and we report all instances of such content to the appropriate officials. 

Photo DNA is a technology that scans all images on Facebook and Instagram and flags known child exploitative material so that future uploads of that imagery is prevented from surfacing on the platform at all.

Facebook says that when they become aware of newly generated CEI based, they hash the content to prevent further uploads or shares, report it to the appropriate officials, and delete the account.

In addition, a company spokesperson says that they flag all reports for child exploitation to National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the US. 

NCMEC has a vast global network of relationships and will, in turn, work with local law enforcement teams around the world to bring people to justice. 

However, Facebook says that if they have reason to believe a child is in immediate/imminent danger, they may proactively refer a case to local law enforcement (in addition to reporting it to NCMEC), to make sure the child is immediately safeguarded.

Just like law enforcement, Facebook is urging anyone who sees or receives the video to report them and delete them. 

A spokesperson said that they emphasize the fact that people should not share, download, or comment on the content, reminding them that it is illegal to share or send messages with, photos and videos of children being sexually abused and exploited. 

Instead, according to Facebook, people should report these photos to law enforcement (in doing so, they won't be asked to provide a copy of the content) and delete them. 

Ohio Revised Code states one cannot promote, advertise or disseminate any obscene material that has a minor as one of its participants or portrayed observers. 

In this case, if the video is spotted on Facebook and then shared to a timeline or in a message with anyone but police officers or the FBI, it is being disseminated. 

Law states that the use of a child under the age of 18 in nudity-oriented material, pandering obscenity involving a minor, pandering any sexually oriented matter involving a minor or sharing sexually explicit photos or videos of minors via emailing or texting are prohibited. 

Those who distribute, film or do any of the aforementioned things are committing felonies of the fourth or second degrees depending on the facts of the specific incident.