On Wednesday the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) announced in a press release that it had conducted law enforcement operations dubbed ‘Operation Stream’ against ‘Kidflix’, a child exploitation platform which reportedly had nearly 2 million users. This investigation was the largest anti-child sexual exploitation operation in Europol’s history and the prosecution phase is ongoing.
The investigation, which began in 2022 and included participation from more than 35 countries, resulted in 79 arrests and 1,400 identifications as well as the shutdown of the pedophile platform, which was based in Germany.
“Kidflix, one of the largest paedophile platforms in the world, has been shut down in an international operation against child sexual exploitation. The investigation was supported by Europol and led by the State Criminal Police of Bavaria (Bayerisches Landeskriminalamt) and the Bavarian Central Office for the Prosecution of Cybercrime (ZCB),” the press release said.
The investigation found that 1.8 million users globally logged on to the platform between April 2022 and March 2025 before being seized by German and Dutch authorities on March 11. At the time of the site’s shutdown, it hosted 72,000 videos.
Some of those responsible for the creation of this content have already been arrested, with more arrests likely as the investigation continues.
“Some of those arrested not only uploaded and watched videos but also abused children. The investigation is ongoing,” the press release said.
According to Europol the pedophile platform was created by a cybercriminal in 2021 and generated massive revenue.
“…it quickly became one of the most popular platforms among paedophiles,” the press release said.
Authorities stated that 91,000 unique videos totaling 6,288 hours (262 days) were uploaded and shared during the platform’s existence. About 3 and a half new videos were uploaded to the platform every hour, reportedly much of this content was previously unknown to law enforcement, likely indicating that there is an ongoing industry creating child rape videos.
“Unlike other known platforms of this kind, Kidflix not only enabled users to download CSAM but also to stream video files. Users made payments using cryptocurrencies, which were subsequently converted into tokens. By uploading CSAM, verifying video titles and descriptions and assigning categories to videos, offenders could earn tokens, which were then used to view content. Each video was uploaded in multiple versions – low, medium and high quality – allowing criminals to preview the content and pay a fee to unlock higher quality versions,” the press release said.
As technology advances, so do the crimes that can be conducted with it and the law enforcement tactics to counter it.
“The digital dimension has driven a rapid evolution in online child sexual exploitation, offering offenders a borderless platform to contact and groom victims, as well as to create, store, and exchange child sexual abuse material,” Catherine De Bolle, Europol Executive Director said in the press release. “Some attempt to frame this as merely a technical or cyber issue – but it is not. There are real victims behind these crimes, and those victims are children. As a society, we must act to protect our children.”
Unfortunately, the press release stated that the trend of child exploitation on the internet will continue to increase despite the success of Operation Stream.
“The digital dimension has triggered a rapid evolution of online CSE, providing offenders with a borderless platform to contact and groom victims, as well as to create, store and exchange CSAM. This trend will continue to grow in the coming years,” the press release said.
Interestingly, many of the suspects caught in the operation were repeat offenders.
“However, the online world is not anonymous. Most of the suspects identified in Operation Stream were matched against records in Europol’s databases, proving that most offenders engaged in child sexual exploitation are repeat offenders and are not unknown to law enforcement authorities,” the press release said.
The press release went on to list ways in which law enforcement combats online child exploitation, including some fascinating methods which enlist the help of the general public.
“Child sexual exploitation is a major threat and therefore one of the EU’s priorities in the fight against serious and organised crime. Since 2017, Europol has been running the Stop Child Abuse – Trace An Object initiative, encouraging citizens to identify objects to help police save abused children,” the press release said. “At the request of EU Member States and other partners, Europol hosts a Victim Identification Taskforce twice a year, an initiative that brings together law enforcement to localise investigations and identify victims. Children in Germany and Australia have benefited from this project, which has provided them with protection.”
In the 1990s former FBI chief Ted Gunderson warned the world about Satanic pedophile rings amongst the ruling class after uncovering a number of them via his private investigative work.