International raid: dozens of arrests for child abuse!

International raid: dozens of arrests for child abuse!

On April 3, 2025, an international police raid against the sexual exploitation of minors on the Internet led several arrests and extensive confiscations. According to Exxpress.at , four people were arrested in Italy and against 15 other people is determined due to the possession of large quantities of abuse representations. The raid once again showed the terrifying dimensions of the child pornography market on the Internet.

The initiative known as "Operation Stream" and was launched in 2021 has already led to 79 arrests in Germany, reported the Munich public prosecutor and the German police. More than 35 countries are involved in this large -scale operation, including the USA, Great Britain, France, Spain and Canada. In Austria, eleven house searches took place where a suspect was arrested.

The "Kidflix" platform in focus

One of the central platforms that was targeted as part of this operation is "Kidflix". This is considered one of the largest pedophile platforms worldwide and was founded in 2021 by a cyber criminals that made high profits with illegal content. During the active term, around 91,000 videos with a total term of 6,288 hours were uploaded to “Kidflix”. In the period from April 2022 to March 2025, around 1.8 million users on this platform globally logged in, which enabled them to download and stream child pornography. Payments made in cryptocurrencies, which made the traceability of the perpetrators more difficult, as well as orf.at reported.

The investigators found a page called "Wikipedo" in the Darknet, which is described as "instructions for use for pedophiles". The Federal Criminal Police Office (BK) emphasizes that the digital development significantly facilitates the spread of these crimes and the exchange of child pornography, which makes the sexual exploitation of children a great threat to the internal security of the EU.

Investigations and protective measures

The current investigations have not yet been completed. The extensive campaign took over over 3,000 electronic devices and 39 children were protected. Europol rated "Operation Stream" as the largest of its kind that required a collaboration of numerous states. This international cooperation is crucial because many of the identified suspects have already been known to the law enforcement authorities.

The dramatic figures regarding the sexual abuse of children show the continued need for action. In 2022 there were 15,520 cases of sexual child abuse and 42,075 registered abuse representations of children on the Internet in Germany. This represents an increase of 7 % compared to the previous year, as can be seen from an evaluation of crime statistics. These figures prompted the independent representative for questions of sexual child abuse, Kerstin Claus, on an urgent demand for increased measures against digital violence and for better education in society, such as bundes- government.de reported.

The Federal Government has taken numerous measures against child abuse since 2010, including the establishment of the office of the independent representatives and the tightening of criminal law. Planned future measures include the legal anchoring of this position and the improvement of cross -border cooperation in child protection. This is particularly important in order to act appropriately to the challenges of the digital world, in which many young people often act out of “digital naivety” and are not aware of the risks.