Four men have been charged over operating a huge child porn platform on the darknet, which was accessed by nearly half a million paedophiles.

Two of the four are believed to have abused children themselves.

The Frankfurt am Main Public Prosecutor’s Office, in the German state of Hesse, has accused the four men of gang-like distribution of child and youth pornography, production of child pornography, and, in some cases, serious sexual abuse of children.

The men, who were not named but who are aged between 41 and 65, are believed to be behind ‘BoysTown’, a platform on the so-called ‘dark web’.

Images and videos – often showing severe sexual abuse of children, mainly boys – were exchanged on the platform, which had over 400,000 members and more than a million forum posts by the time investigators ordered its shutdown, in April 2021.

The accused are currently in custody as the Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main decides whether to accept the charges.

A 49-year-old from the district of Muehldorf am Inn and a 59-year-old from northern Germany are said to have been in charge of setting up the platform, in the summer of 2019.

The 49-year-old is said to have abused two children in at least 17 cases, some of them severely. In other cases, he is said to have taken pictures and video recordings.

The 59-year-old was extradited from Paraguay to Germany in October 2021.

A 41-year-old suspect from the district of Paderborn is said to have worked as an administrator and moderator on the platform, and he is also accused of severe abuse of two children in 25 cases.

A 65-year-old from Hamburg is also accused of being one of the platform’s most active users.

More members of the platform are still being investigated.