German police shut down major darknet child sex abuse platform | DW News

Authorities in Germany managed to take down one of the world's biggest child sex abuse platforms following a large-scale investigation which led to several arrests in mid-April, a police statement confirmed on Monday.

The platform "Boystown" was active since at least June 2019 and had a membership of over 400,000. It was only accessible via the so-called darknet.

Four German citizens between the ages of 40 and 64 were detained in relation to the case, three on suspicion of working as administrators for the platform — one of whom was arrested in Paraguay. Another man was taken in under suspicion of being a registered member and the platform's most active user, having contributed more than 3,500 posts.

The investigation spanned months and was led by a German task force working in coordination with Europol, as well as authorities from the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, the United States and Canada.

The platform provided a space for users to share recordings of abuse of minors including "of the most serious sexual abuse of young children," the statement from the Germany's federal investigative police force (the BKA) said.

The platform included several communication channels for users. The members also received advice from platform administrators for how to access the site in the most secure way and how best to avoid detection and subsequent criminal charges.

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