79 people arrested, at least 39 children rescued, tens of thousands of videos with signs of violence removed.
The operation covered 35 countries and was the result of a multi-year investigation led by the Bavarian Criminal Police and the Central Cybercrime Prosecutor’s Office (ZCB). Servers containing more than 72,000 videos were seized, although the total number of unique files may have reached 91,000.
The platform, which was accessed using cryptocurrency tokens, had an average of 3.5 new videos per hour, most of which were previously unknown to the police.
Users could not only upload material, but also receive additional tokens for helping to sort the content, making Kidflix a kind of “industrial center” for the exploitation of children. Some of the 79 detained, according to Europol, were personally involved in child abuse.
The Kidflix platform has been around since at least April 2022 and has 1.8 million users worldwide. There are 1,393 suspects, of whom 79 have already been arrested. The platform operated on the basis of darknet technologies and cryptographic anonymity, which made it difficult to track. However, international cooperation made it possible to find digital traces, identify users and neutralize servers located in Germany and the Netherlands.
The operation was a historic victory over global child exploitation networks, emphasizing that darknet technologies and cryptocurrency do not guarantee impunity. According to Europol President Catherine de Bolle, these crimes are not about cybersecurity, but about real children who became victims.
