Two Maltese men were among 79 who were arrested in connection with an international major crackdown which led to the closure of Kidflix, one of the largest paedophile platforms in the world, the police said.
In a statement Sunday, the police said Malta was part of Operation Stream that saw the participation of 35 countries. Some 1,400 suspects were identified and, so far, 79 have been arrested.
The police said that last February it received information from Europol that two Maltese men had bought and uploaded material on Kidflix.
After they were identified, the two men were arrested on 10 March and searched yielded equipment and items connected with the online exploitation of children.
One of the men, aged 27, was charged in court and he admitted to the crimes he was charged with. The other, aged 26, will be charged in the coming days.
A total of 1.8 million users worldwide logged on to the platform between April 2022 and March 2025. On 11 March 2025, the server, which contained around 72 000 videos at the time, was seized by German and Dutch authorities, Europol said
The investigation resulted in the identification of almost 1 400 suspects worldwide. So far, 79 of these individuals have been arrested for sharing and distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Some of those arrested not only uploaded and watched videos but also abused children. The investigation is ongoing.
Kidflix was created in 2021 by a cybercriminal who made a huge profit from it, as it quickly became one of the most popular platforms among paedophiles, Europol said. According to authorities, 91 000 unique videos were uploaded and shared on the platform while it was active, with a total running time of 6 288 hours. On average, around 3.5 new videos were uploaded to the platform every hour, many of which were previously unknown to law enforcement.
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.
Operation Stream has been the largest operation ever handled by Europol's experts in fighting child sexual exploitation, and one of the biggest cases supported by the law enforcement agency in recent years, Europol said.
During the investigation, Europol's analysts from the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) provided intensive operational support to national authorities by analysing thousands of videos. Europol's experts also cross-checked all available data and provided evidence to the relevant countries to facilitate the investigation.
Given the scale of the case, Europol's role in coordinating the exchange of information during the investigation and the action days was crucial to its success. Bringing partners together for cross-border cooperation and joint action is one of Europol's main priorities in order to strengthen the fight against all forms of serious international and organised crime, cybercrime and terrorism.