Authorities stop massive child abuse website

A sting on a darknet child pornography site led to the arrest of more than 300 people around the world and the rescue of at least 23 children. The United States on Wednesday unsealed an indictment against Jong Woo Son, 23, on charges he operated the largest child sexual exploitation market by volume of content. Jong, a South Korean, ran a website dedicated solely to videos of child sexual abuse. South Korea, the United Kingdom, the United States worked together to arrest him.

What makes this case unique? The encrypted darknet site was among the first to sell child abuse content using the cryptocurrency bitcoin, making it difficult to track. The agencies seized data from the website’s servers and used it to track down and arrest users.

Dig deeper: Read Kiley Crossland’s report in Relations about the recent explosion in online child pornography.