The county prosecutor's office says the 20 students, from Lower Cape May Regional High School and Richard M. Teitelman Middle School, both in Cape May, have been charged with invasion of privacy.
Authorities say that a female student alerted school officials last month that naked photographs of a friend were being texted to male students. Police investigated, and 27 cell phones were seized and analyzed.
"It was learned that numerous nude and partially nude photographs of female students were being exchanged between male students via text message and social media," the prosecutor's news release stated.