Europol has succeeded in uncovering a massive pedophile network with two million users across multiple countries. According to Europol, investigators from more than 30 nations have dismantled the network, which operated globally with nearly two million users, and arrested 79 individuals. Under the leadership of the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office, the platform known as “Kidflix” was taken offline, Europol announced.
Europol described Kidflix as one of the largest pedophile platforms in the world. The operation is also considered the largest action to date in Europe against the sexual abuse of children.
In Brandenburg, several searches were conducted as part of this coordinated effort. Police carried out raids in the districts of Uckermark, Oberspreewald-Lausitz, and the city of Brandenburg an der Havel, according to a police spokesperson. Nationwide, investigators searched 96 residences across all federal states except Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt, and Schleswig-Holstein. Currently, investigations are underway against 103 suspects across Germany.
Kidflix under investigation for years
The platform’s servers, which hosted over 70,000 videos at the time, were shut down in early March by German and Dutch authorities. According to the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office, Kidflix had intermittently operated since April and had approximately 1.8 million registered users during that period. Globally, around 1,400 suspects have been identified. The 79 individuals arrested are not only suspected of viewing or downloading videos depicting child sexual abuse but also of actively participating in abuse in some cases.
The investigations began in 2022 and culminated in actions taken between March 10 and March 23. Thousands of electronic devices and over 91,000 videos were seized during this period.
According to Europol, Kidflix was established by cybercriminals in 2021 and became one of the most popular platforms for pedophiles. Users could pay to download or stream videos depicting child sexual abuse through the platform. The Bavarian State Criminal Police Office reported that Kidflix hosted more than 91,000 high-quality videos with a total runtime of 6,288 hours. On average, approximately 3.5 new videos were uploaded to the platform every hour.
