By Jay Syrmopoulos

Berlin — The largely unrecognized global pandemic of child pornography has once again been thrust into the glare of the public spotlight after a massive child porn network with over 87,000 members was dismantled by German police.

A web platform called “Elysium” was utilized by the pedophile network, which existed since the end of 2016 and was accessible only through the Darknet, a hidden part of the Internet uncatalogued by search engines. The site was used to facilitate the exchange of videos and images of children, as young as toddler age, being physically and sexually abused.

According to German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle:

Investigators said the site had been in operation since the end of 2016 and that it was accessible only via the darknet, a part of the World Wide Web that cannot be found using conventional search engines but requires the use of encrypting software.

According to the authorities in Frankfurt, there were also recordings of “the most serious sexual abuse of children”, such as violence against children and abuse of “the youngest.” The platform was also used to schedule appointments to exploit and abuse children.

Most of the suspects were arrested in the countries of Germany and Austria.

A German police spokesman said that Dutch authorities were also involved in the case:

We are certainly expecting things that are important to the Netherlands, but at the moment it is not yet possible to indicate to what extent.