Kidflix: Investigators uncover pedophile network and arrest 79 suspects
Investigators have been looking into the darknet platform since the beginning of 2022. Like its namesake, it offered streaming videos - now it has been blocked.
The darknet platform Kidflix is shut down - investigators have struck.
(Image: Generalstaatsanwaltschaft Bamberg)
Investigators have succeeded in striking a blow against an international platform for the distribution of paedophile content: The darknet streaming site “Kidflix” is offline. Criminals were offering over 90,000 videos there in return for payment in cryptocurrencies. The Cybercrime Department at the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office shut down the platform with the support of international colleagues. Worldwide, 1400 suspects were identified in the “OP Stream” and 79 people were arrested.
The coordinated strike against the platform's users began on March 10, 2025, with worldwide searches, seizures, and arrests – twelve suspects live in Bavaria alone. One day later, on March 11, Dutch investigators seized the Kidflix server, which at the time offered 72,000 videos.
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Although the prosecutors seized data carriers, cell phones, PCs and other evidence, they have not yet been able to arrest the administrators of Kidflix. They had built a business model around child pornography videos: Although there were also free videos, high-resolution material was only available for a fee. According to Spiegel, the investigators found assets worth almost 200,000 euros in a confiscated crypto wallet.
In addition to the search for the Kidflix admins, the focus is now on victim protection: alongside the BLKA, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and Europol are also working to identify as many of the underage victims as possible and protect them from further abuse. They have already achieved initial successes: in the USA, for example, a suspect who is said to have abused a child known to him several times was found.
(cku)
