Department of Justice shut down four dark web child abuse sites: They had more than 120,000 members

The Department of Justice (DOJ) shut down four child abuse sites on the dark web. In total, the network had at least 120,000 members and circulated hundreds of thousands of illegal images of children for sexual exploitation. In terms of the material's impact, it received at least 100,000 hits per day.

As CBS News reported, "Operation Grayskull" began in 2020 after authorities detected "a sudden spike in traffic to a dark web site suspected of harboring child abuse material." Among those arrested was William Spearman, listed by the DOJ as one of the world's leading purveyors of child sexual abuse material.

The operation also resulted in convictions of 18 leaders and members of the organization in Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Indiana, Texas, Washington, Arkansas, Michigan and Oklahoma.

"This is one of the most successful of all time. We dismantled four websites that have not regenerated," Matthew Galeotti, head of the DOJ's Criminal Division, told the media outlet.

"Even for prosecutors, it is difficult to understand how pervasive this is. Because it happens on the dark web, people aren't aware of it. It's extremely troubling," he added.

As for the magnitude of the case, the prosecution in the case of Selwyn Rosenstein, one of those convicted, specified that the degree of sophistication of the participants was strikingly high: "It was a large and active community of pedophiles and abuse material enthusiasts. And it existed in part because of the defendant's criminal acts."

Another of those involved, Matthew Garrell, "engaged in an extremely complex and technologically sophisticated conspiracy that far exceeds the typical child-exploitation offenses." In addition, he had in his possession a "manual" to groom children for future abuse.